By SHERRI KOLADE
Times-Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS — Three people died after a car crash Friday on Ford Road at Telegraph Road.
Dearborn Heights resident Adnan Berisha, 19, drove a Honda Accord west on Ford Road with front seat passenger Dearborn resident Markel Jackson-Willis and Willis’ cousin, 21-year-old Westland resident William Willis, when 48-year-old Westland resident Daemon Maniaci’s Ford Ranger hit the car’s front passenger’s-side.
Jackson-Willis and Berisha died instantly and Maniaci died at Oakwood Hospital and Medical Center. Willis is recovering at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.
Both vehicles flipped over onto a nearby median about 12:30 p.m.
Traffic Division Cpl. Leonard Stewart said he arrived about 12:45 p.m. and Willis was alert.
“He was talking to a fireman,” Stewart said. “He is improving … he still has a long road to recovery.”
Stewart said Willis suffered broken legs and ribs and other injuries.
Stewart last saw Willis about 4 p.m. Friday at the hospital awaiting surgery.
“When I got down there he was sedated,” Stewart said.
According to published reports, Willis had multiple surgeries.
Stewart said he believes Maniaci was involved in another collision on Ford Road shortly before the Telegraph collision.
Dearborn and Dearborn Heights firefighters, Dearborn Heights police, Wayne County sheriff’s deputies and state police assisted on Friday in closing parts of Telegraph and Ford that reached to Warren, Outer Drive and south and north Telegraph road.
Stewart said he is unsure why Maniaci was speeding.
“We may never know,” Stewart said.
Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office officials did not return calls seeking comment by press time.
Henry Ford Hospital media spokesperson David Olejarz said on Jan. 10 that Willis’ family requested to not disclose his medical status.
(Sherri Kolade can be reached at [email protected].)