SARANAC, Mich. (AP) - Investigators believe a Utah woman who was involved in a head-on crash in western Michigan that seriously injured a Michigan State Police trooper last week had been drinking before that crash, police said.
Trooper Caleb Starr remains in critical condition and has not regained consciousness since the July 10 crash in Ionia County, near Saranac, said Lt. David Cope, a spokesman for state police’s Sixth District operations.
He said investigators believe a 28-year-old Utah woman whose sport-utility vehicle crossed a road’s center line and collided head-on with Starr’s cruiser had been drinking. It’s unclear whether other factors also contributed to the crash, and an investigation was continuing, Cope told the Lansing State Journal.
The woman motorist remains in critical condition but was stable and conscious, he said. Her name has not been released.
State police said Starr was en route to a low-priority call at the time of the crash.
A diagnostic investigation of his patrol vehicle shows that he was traveling at a steady speed, below the posted speed limit of 55 mph (88.5 kilometers per hour) prior to the crash, then braked, significantly reducing his speed before the two vehicles collided, investigators said.
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