Life in Ypsi

Thu, Aug 25, 2011 : 5:52 p.m.

My heart goes out to the family and people that witnessed the accident scene. I hope others will read this article and take extra precautions to secure belongings in vehicles and to report things on the road that can cause an accident. I have called 911 to report several pieces of plywood scattered on 94 before. I'll be forever haunted by the social worked at Willow Run who lost her life because of a piece of furniture on the highway and now this. Perhaps A2.com could do a Q & A with a defensive driving expert to tell us all what's the best thing to do in situations like this.

Nikki

Thu, Aug 25, 2011 : 5:27 p.m.

This is the auntie of charmica yes this was a tragic situation I would like to thank each and everyone of you who stopped to help at the scene of the accident.. Charmica was a sweet child who loved her daughter to the fullest extent a mother could. My sister and other neice has suffered a great lose please keep them in your prayers.

akeisha

Thu, Aug 25, 2011 : 2:15 p.m.

Hello this is the mother and sister of the the women of the driver vehicle we would like to thank everyone who was there to help the family my sister has left us and and my niece is still recovering the other kids are fine and so is the husband we are very sad but at the same time trying to stay strong anyone with any information please email me at brooksakeisha22@gmail.com we would love to hear from anybody that was on the sence at the moment please contact us please we are waiting to hear from you

NCTerry

Thu, Aug 25, 2011 : 1:25 a.m.

All of you "experts" who are critical of the reporting are assuming a lot and underestimating the difficulty of covering a story like this. First- have any of you ever been professional reporters? If not, you may not be qualified to make such negative comments. You need to keep several things in mind. This happened on a Sunday afternoon. Skeleton crews were no doubt in place at A2.com AND the state police. Information and details don't come floating out of the sky. By the time A2.com even knew about this event most people would have already left the scene. Usually the only source of information is the police. They're pretty busy at the time of the incident and can't really take time to divulge much. After the police have left the scene it is very, VERY difficult to get decent, accurate details. Don't believe it? Try it sometime! These witnesses who took the time to comment and fill in the gaps could easily have lived far away from the area and never provided any of the clarifications. Try finding witnesses hours after an event. Even speaking to witnesses on the scene doesn't always work out very well. There are certainly areas of improvement for A2.com and every other news organization, but if you think it's easy you're very wrong. I challenge all of you critics to work the desk for a few weekends and find out it's not as easy as you think it is. Anyone can be a Monday morning quarterback.

ericb

Thu, Aug 25, 2011 : 1:10 a.m.

Mark is 100 percent correct with all of his details. All passengers were still in the vehicle when I arrived to help, only seconds after the accident and the little girl who I tended to I can say with 100 percent assurance, had her seatbelt on and it most certainly saved her life. I'm saddened to hear of the loss of Ms. Neely. My prayers go out to her family.

ummsw

Thu, Aug 25, 2011 : 12:06 a.m.

Such a sad ending, my heart goes out to the family especially the children . I would also like to thank Mark and KC Doc for their accurate ,compassionate posts.

John B.

Wed, Aug 24, 2011 : 11:52 p.m.

It's sad (but not very surprising) that the story finally gets told correctly by citizens, rather than the 'news source.' Thank you to the two posters with the actual story.

Mark

Wed, Aug 24, 2011 : 11:23 p.m.

Ok, I've been holding back from posting but here is how it all happened. I was the vehicle directly in front of them and I have replayed this accident a thosand times in my head. Speed wasn't an issue as the traffic was a bit congested (probably traveling between 70-75 max). Suddenly, the car in front of me swerved to miss a stool laying directly in the middle of the left lane (westbound). I also then swerved and missed the stool, but barely. Immediately looking in my mirror, I watched as she swerved but clipped the stool sending it off the road like a bowling pin. She then swerved a couple times between the two lanes to regain control, but in the last swerve the vehicle was partially on the shoulder and grass which allowed the vehicle to get sideways and it began to roll. It rolled several times. I immediately pulled off, stopped and ran back to the truck as I knew the passengers had to be hurt. I have seen rollovers but none at that speed and severe. By then other motorists had stopped and ran to the vehicle to give aid. An ER Dr. came and gave aid as read in earlier post (props to him for lending his profesional help). ALL passengers were in the vehicle. The driver and passenger were unconsious but the kids were crying and very scared (obviously). Nobody was thrown from the vehicle which means they all had their seatbelts on because the truck rolled hard, several times, with no airbags deployed and all glass was broke out of the vehicle. I waited until the first abulance and fire rescue arrived. Nobody was removed from the vehicle until EMS arrived. I then left to let them do their jobs. As I left, a second abulance was driving down the shoulder to the scene. I read this morning that she had passed and I have gone over this all day. This is such a tragedy, which all stemmed from a piece of crap in the road (a shop stool). My heart goes out to this entire family as this was such a sudden tragedy... My deepest condolences...

KCDoc

Wed, Aug 24, 2011 : 7:32 p.m.

To clarify, no one was ejected. All 5 passengers were in the car when I arrived on scene. After assessing them, I assisted the adult male out and the smallest child who had no apparent injuries. The adult female was still belted in the drivers seat and the two injured children remained in the car until medics arrived.

FoxviewFarm

Wed, Aug 24, 2011 : 12:42 p.m.

I don't think it is shoddy reporting. According to several people that were on site, including several that posted on the other thread, all passingers were belted. Several were helped out by helpful bystanders, and there was actually an ED doc that stopped to help at the scene. Not sure why the focus of your posts seems to be that they could not be wearing belts.... Privacy for the family, location of all relatives does take precedence over our need to know, as frustrating as that might be at times for those of us that are following the story. Reality is this is a very very sad situation. Prayers to the family of the kids, and to her BF, who according to previous posts may actually be the father of the children. To those that stopped and helped, you really did something very kind, and your compassion was clearly evident in the posts. I hope you have comfort in knowing that you made a difference.

a2kathie

Wed, Aug 24, 2011 : 12:21 p.m.

Regardless of the details, it is such a sad outcome to an event that could have been prevented by someone else strapping down a load properly. My sympathy goes out to the Neely family, especially the children as they will have to go through life without a very important mother. Bless you Mrs. Neely.

treetowncartel

Wed, Aug 24, 2011 : 2:37 a.m.

The original story said the swerved to miss a stool. I would like to ask that the family dog gets to say goodbye to the matriarch. Dogs are smarter than we give them credit. Please don't let the dog go on living wondering what happened to "mom".

DBH

Wed, Aug 24, 2011 : 1:20 a.m.

Actually, ejections of passengers wearing seat belts is well known, particularly in rollover crashes. Seat belts are far more likely to prevent ejections in accidents during which there is no rollover of the vehicle. You can Google seat belts+ejection and find multiple hits. This link is to a simulation of an accident reconstruction showing an ejection in a rollover accident. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSHxdYhuIG8" rel='nofollow'>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSHxdYhuIG8</a> My deepest condolences to the family of Ms. Neely and others who cared for her. I hope the others injured recover soon, although the emotional recovery I expect will be much more prolonged. Life is tenuous and too short.

Life in Ypsi

Wed, Aug 24, 2011 : 1:15 a.m.

I really hope the metal did not fall off some truck loaded with unsecured junk. I have seen far too many drivers have unsecured belongings in trucks putting others at risk. I have seen everything from plywood to furniture on our highways. I have even been in back of a truck that had the Styrofoam sheets used for insulation come flying at me. Pretty scary thing going 70 and can't get over to another lane safely.

Dot

Wed, Aug 24, 2011 : 1:03 a.m.

Good thoughts to everyone involved in this accident. Any information as to the possible speed that she was traveling? I understand the swerving factor, but since 5 of 5 occupants were wearing seat belts, and 3 of 5 passengers were thrown from the vehicle, which rolled 6 times, I wonder if the speed was a consideration, or the top heavy vehicle contributed to the rolling. I would be interested to hear followup on the investigation of this accident.

Mike Belzer

Wed, Aug 24, 2011 : 12:58 a.m.

Terribly inconsistent reporting. After removing the posting from a reader telling us that the female driver died the following morning, you finally got the story out some 32 or more hours later, once you could verify it. You then proceed to tell us that all five people in the car were wearing safety belts even as you say that Ms. Neely and two passengers were found outside the vehicle. This would be an incredible and virtually impossible technical failure of safety belts if it were true, but it's not. Though these may be small details, readers should expect that stories such as this are accurate. From a public policy perspective, I think it's remarkable that four of five people survived such a terrible crash.

Salinemary

Wed, Aug 24, 2011 : 12:26 a.m.

Rest in peace, Mrs. Neely.

Subroutine

Tue, Aug 23, 2011 : 10:49 p.m.

@A2.com You rarely have any decent pictures. But you have pics of the car in which people died. Nice job.