ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. – A 29-year-old Shelby Township man was killed and two Oakland County sheriff’s deputies were injured in a crash on M-59.
The sheriff’s office said the crash happened at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 19, on eastbound M-59 near Rochester Road in Rochester Hills.
The Shelby Township man, identified as Nicholas Leach, was fatally injured after his truck struck two Oakland County Sheriff’s Office vehicles, according to the sheriff’s office.
The deputies had been sent out to block traffic so a disabled vehicle could be removed from M-59. The disabled vehicle had caught fire earlier and was being removed by a tow truck from the left lane of M-59.
The deputies were sitting in their patrol vehicles with emergency lights activated, the sheriff’s office said. They were blocking traffic, the shoulder, and the left lane of M-59.
The sheriff’s office said Leach was driving a 2004 Ford F-150 truck eastbound on M-59 when he rear-ended the patrol vehicle that was blocking the left lane, causing the patrol vehicle to spin and hit the second patrol vehicle that was blocking the shoulder.
Leach was trapped in the truck. Rochester Hills firefighters got him out of the truck. He was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
---> Previous report: 2 Oakland County deputies ‘lucky to be alive’ after crash, sheriff’s office says