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A third victim in a Sunday head-on traffic crash in Howell Township has died from her injuries.
Sheriff Bob Bezotte said 49-year-old Susan Bloomstine of Wyoming died from her injuries during the night at the University of Michigan Medical Center.
Also killed in the 5:21 p.m. crash were 80-year-old Charles Wright of Wyoming and George Leo Tissen Jr., 54 of Fowlerville.
Bezotte said witnesses indicated that Tissen, who was driving a 2002 Ford Ranger eastbound on Interstate 96, went into the median, traveled about 300 yards in the opposite direction and crossed to the westbound lanes, where his vehicle collided with a 2007 Ford Taurus in the center lane, just west of M-59.
Police speculate Tissen experienced a medical event.
“Witnesses said they couldn’t see him driving,” Bezotte said. “It was like he was lying down in the seat.”
Tissen and the front-seat passenger of the Taurus, whom police identified as Wright, died at the scene.
A Survival Flight helicopter took Bloomstine, who was not wearing a seat belt, to U-M, where she later died. Her husband, Legrand Bloomstine, 57, who was driving the Taurus, also was transported to U-M, where he remained in serious condition Monday, Bezotte said.
An autopsy is expected on Tissen, the sheriff said.
Alcohol was not believed to be a factor in the collision, but that and whether the other victims were wearing seat belts remains under investigation.
The crash closed westbound I-96 in the area of the crash for about four hours while deputies investigated.
Troopers from the Michigan State Police’s Brighton post along with Howell police, Howell firefighters, Fowlerville police, and Michigan Department of Natural Resources personnel assisted sheriff’s deputies at the scene.
Contact Daily Press Argus reporter Lisa Roose-Church at (517) 552-2846 or at lrchurch@gannett.com. Follow her @LisaRooseChurch on Twitter.
Article source: http://www.livingstondaily.com/article/20120814/NEWS01/208140309/Wrong-way-Interstate-96-crash-claims-third-victim?odyssey=nav%7Chead
