St. Clair County authorities believe that a fatal crash last Friday morning was caused, in part, by the driver huffing aerosolized chemicals.
St. Clair County Central Dispatch received several calls around 10:30 a.m. on Friday, October 11, with multiple callers reporting an erratic driver in a Toyota Cienna minivan on eastbound I-69. The white minivan was reported going from 25 to 90 miles per hour on the freeway from Capac Road towards M-19, with witnesses reporting that it was just west of M-19 where the minivan left the road.
The minivan veered off the right side of the road and traveled about 250 feet before striking a tree and soon catching fire. Though people did stop and attempt to free the driver from the vehicle, the fire prevented them, with firefighters arriving at the scene to find the vehicle fully engulfed. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene once the fire was extinguished.
While the cause of the crash is still being investigated, it is believed that the driver was huffing nitrous oxide or dust-off spray before or at the time of the crash. Due to the severity of the crash and fire, formal identification of the driver is pending confirmation by the county medical examiner.
The crash is being investigated by the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office Detective Bureau, Fire Investigation Unit, and Accident Investigation Unit.
