Laniya Bethea
By ZEINAB NAJM
Sunday Times Newspapers
TAYLOR — A fiery crash involving two vehicles and a semi-trailer truck on westbound I-94 in Taylor June 21 left two dead.
Michigan State Troopers and Taylor police responded to the crash site about 7:55 a.m. near Beech Daly that claimed the lives of a 56-year-old Rochester man and 24-year-old Ecorse woman.
The investigation revealed that the woman driving a sedan crossed the median from the eastbound lanes and struck the man driving a pickup head-on.
“It may never be determined why she crossed the median,” an MSP Metro Detroit Twitter post read.
It was determined that the driver of a semi was in the center lane, the man was in the left lane and the woman hitting the man sent the pickup into the semi. The sedan and pickup came to rest on the left shoulder and ditch where they caught fire, MSP said.
The semi came to rest on the left shoulder, blocking the left and center lanes. Once at the scene, troopers found the man on the ground with severe burns. The woman, who also suffered severe burns, was removed from the sedan.
Both were transported to a local hospital where they were pronounced dead. The driver of the semi was not injured.
I-94 west from Telegraph was closed for multiple hours.
Names were not released by MSP, but a GoFundMe page identified the woman as Laniya Bethea and said she had three children.
(Zeinab Najm can be reached at [email protected].)