GRAND RAPIDS – A young woman who was killed in a crash along with her unborn son was on the phone with her father when the crash happened on US-131 in Grand Rapids.
WOODTV reports 21-year-old Valery Arreola, who was eight months pregnant, was killed in a crash when her car stalled on the highway. The crash also critically injured her 3-year-old son.
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She was taking her young sons to meet her family for a day of sledding when she pulled onto northbound US-131 from Franklin Street about 2 p.m. Sunday, her family said. That is where her 1999 Nissan Altima stalled. Her sister, Nohemi Arreola, said Valery Arreola pulled to the shoulder.
“She calls my dad and says, ‘Hey, my car just stopped. What do I do?'” Nohemi Arreola said. “And he said, ‘Don’t worry, we’re on our way, we’ll come and get you.’
“And as they’re on the phone, my dad says he hears the loud crash, and then nothing.”
Michigan State Police say a pickup truck slammed into the back of Arreola’s car.
She died at Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital.
“Valery was a strong mom. She was a single mom and she worked many jobs, always trying to make ends meet for her boys,” her sister said. “She never let them go without anything that they needed. She was always there for them.”
The driver of the pickup truck, a 35-year-old Rockford man, was treated at Mercy Health Saint Mary’s Hospital and released. Troopers say speed and alcohol do not appear to be factors in the crash.