By the TruckCrash News Desk
What Happened
A two-vehicle crash at a rural Huron County intersection early Tuesday was followed by a second wreck at the same emergency response — a tow truck striking a parked fire truck — leaving three people injured in all, according to WNEM TV5, citing the Huron County Sheriff’s Office.
The first crash happened at about 5:45 a.m. on September 1 at South Elkton and Sebewaing roads in Oliver Township. A 2007 Dodge pickup driven north on Elkton Road by a 23-year-old Deford woman ran a stop sign, the sheriff’s office said, and struck a 2021 Nissan being driven east by a 30-year-old Bay City man. Both drivers were injured, according to WNEM.
While crews worked that scene, a second crash occurred about a mile east, at Sebewaing and Hartsell roads, where an Oliver Township fire truck had been parked to block the roadway. A 2003 Freightliner tow truck from Bad Axe, responding toward the original crash, struck the parked fire truck. The 54-year-old Bad Axe man driving the tow truck was injured and hospitalized; he told authorities he did not realize the fire truck was parked, according to WNEM’s report.
Reporting: WNEM TV5, with information from the Huron County Sheriff’s Office.
The Investigation: What Happens Next
The Huron County Sheriff’s Office is investigating both collisions. For the first crash, deputies will document the stop-controlled intersection, vehicle damage, and driver statements. The second crash raises a distinct set of questions that investigators routinely examine when an emergency scene is struck: the visibility of the parked apparatus, its emergency lighting, approach sight lines in the early-morning darkness, and the tow truck’s speed and attentiveness.
Crashes into parked emergency vehicles are a persistent hazard for responders, and Michigan’s traffic laws require drivers to slow down and move over for stationary emergency vehicles displaying flashing lights. Whether any citations will be issued in either collision had not been announced as of the initial report.
The Legal Picture
Q1: How do injured drivers’ costs get covered after a crash like this? Under Michigan’s no-fault system, each injured person’s own auto insurance is generally the first source of medical and wage-loss benefits, regardless of fault. See our Michigan no-fault insurance overview.
Q2: Does it matter that a commercial tow truck was involved? Tow trucks are commercial vehicles, and crashes involving them can implicate commercial insurance policies and carrier safety rules. Our truck accident resources cover the general differences.
Q3: What about the damaged fire truck? Damage to municipal emergency equipment is typically resolved between the township, its insurers, and the other parties’ insurers — separate from any injury claims.
Nothing in this section assumes fault by any driver involved in this crash. Fault, if any, is determined by investigators, insurers, and ultimately the courts — not by news coverage.
This Stretch of Road
Oliver Township lies in Michigan’s Thumb, a region of flat farmland where section-line roads meet at stop-controlled intersections with long sight lines but high approach speeds. Sebewaing Road is a key east–west connector between Elkton and Sebewaing, and early-morning agricultural and commuter traffic is common. The crash sequence here — an initial collision followed by a wreck at the protective road closure — illustrates why responders position heavy apparatus upstream of a scene, and why approaching drivers need to treat flashing lights on a dark rural road as a signal to slow well before they can see what lies beyond.
If You Saw This Crash
Anyone who witnessed either collision on Sebewaing Road on Tuesday morning — at South Elkton Road or at Hartsell Road — can contact the Huron County Sheriff’s Office. Information about either crash’s moments beforehand, including vehicle speeds and lighting conditions, may assist deputies’ investigation.
About TruckCrash News
TruckCrash News is a daily Michigan road-safety news service published by truckcrash.com. Our mission is simple: document every serious traffic crash in Michigan — from semi-truck wrecks on the interstates to collisions on rural county roads — so that families, commuters, and local communities have a clear, factual record of what happened, where it happened, and what investigators say about it. We compile our reports from official statements by police and fire agencies and from the work of Michigan broadcast and print newsrooms, and we credit those sources in every story.
This article is a news report, not legal advice. Details are based on information available from the cited sources at the time of publication and may change as investigations continue. If official findings are updated, we encourage readers to consult the investigating agency’s latest statements.