Pickup backs onto M-6, causes crash

CALEDONIA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) - One person was critically injured when a pickup truck backed up on M-6, causing an accident between that pickup, an oncoming car and a semi-truck.

The pickup truck driver was headed east on M-6 when the driver lost control and hit a guardrail near Broadmoor Avenue SE and went into the median just after midnight Wednesday morning. The pickup was sideways in the median, with its headlights shining across the westbound lanes.

When the pickup driver tried backing onto the highway, an oncoming eastbound car hit the pickup. The driver of that car lost control and collided with a nearby semi-truck.

All three vehicles ended up in a ditch.

The driver of the car, a Kent County man, was rushed to Saint Mary's Health Care, and police said his injuries were critical.

The semi-driver, Walter Brodock, has 35 years behind the wheel. He told 24 Hour News 8 he could see a white pickup in the ditch ahead of him, and as he slowed, a car came along his driver's side to pass him.

"As they're driving along," said MSP Sgt. Scott Wilber, "all of a sudden this pickup truck backs out into their path."

"It just spun him around," Brodock said, "and threw him into my drives and it knocked my drives out from under me. And it jackknifed my truck and I was off sliding. There was nothing I could do."

Police suggest that in almost all situations, if you are not hurt and your car is upright, it is better to reamin inside the car and wait for help.

"The bottom line is we've got bad roads," Wilber said. "Someone loses it and ends up down in the median and what they should have done is waited for help."

Drivers, he said, should slow down to avoid a crash. "But if that crash happens, take your time, get your wits, contact 911. See if there is a patrol car in the area that can help you. The thing would be to get winched out by a tow truck."

That isn't making truck driver Brodock feel better.

"I don't understand why people do stuff like (backing up on a highway)," he said. "Oh, I feel terrible. I went down there and the guy was screaming and yelling, 'Help me!'"