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ALLEGAN COUNTY, MI — The driver that caused a fatal crash on U.S. 131 first made a U-turn before heading down the wrong direction of travel and hitting another vehicle, a police official said. A 38-year-old Grand Rapids woman was driving the at-fault vehicle that crashed on the highway around 1 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 2, Allegan County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Brandon Berens said. The driver was initially headed south on U.S. 131 and exited at 129th Avenue, Berens said, before immediately entering the northbound on-ramp. She then did a U-turn at the bottom of the on-ramp, heading southbound in the northbound lanes. “We’re still investigating, trying to determine why,” he said. She was killed in the crash, along with the driver and a passenger of the other vehicle, both 18-year-old men. Three other passengers in that same vehicle were between 16 and 18, he said. Their injuries range from serious to critical, Berens said. Some of the people in the vehicle were from the Portage/Kalamazoo area and others were from the Jackson area, he said, though he did not provide specifics. They weren’t doing anything wrong when the car was struck, he said. “The unfortunate part is reaction time is so limited based on the highway speeds,” he said, though he did not have an estimated speed for the vehicles. A tribal police officer tried to get into position to intervene, he said, but could not make it in time before the crash occurred. Portage Public Schools spokeswoman Michelle Karpinski said a graduate of Portage Northern High School was killed and a current Portage Community High School student was critically injured. Counselors were available Monday at Portage Northern High School, she said. Police have not released the names of the people killed and injured at this time, Berens said, as officials work to ensure family members have been notified. Police are investigating to see if alcohol was a factor in the crash.
