The crash happened Dec. 14
BERRIEN COUNTY, MI — A man who plowed into the rear of a sheriff’s cruiser in December, injuring a deputy, died of an overdose before lab results came back showing he was drugged-driving that day.
State police issued a release about the outcome on Saturday, Aug. 12 — eight months after the Dec. 14 crash.
The 32-year-old man, from Hartford, was driving a pickup on I-94 near Watervliet in snowy conditions Dec. 14. The pickup crashed into the rear of a Berrien County sheriff’s cruiser, pushing it into two semi-trucks.
At the time, the cruiser had it’s lights activated and was escorting a slow-moving vehicle off the freeway.
The deputy in the cruiser and the pickup driver were injured and taken to hospitals for treatment. Eastbound I-94 was closed to investigate the crash.
Sheriff’s deputy injured as police deal with spate of I-94 car crashes
Police at the time suspected the 32-year-old man may be under the influence of drugs.
But toxicology tests on the driver’s blood apparently did not come back from a lab for several months. When they did, it showed evidence of morphine and codeine.
Police then went to track down the driver and learned he died of a drug overdose in April.
Police said the death was not related to the December crash.
