Bodycam video shows close call on I-94
By: Body camera video shows a semi-truck driver disregard flashing lights and road flares signaling a closure on I-94, coming dangerously close to a Van Buren County sheriff’s deputy.
Van Buren County Sheriff Dan Abbott called it a “very, very close call, very concerning call.”
“This deputy, fortunately, did not get hit and killed. He was so close. We’re talking milliseconds, you look at that video,” Abbott said. “We are so fortunate. That deputy is so fortunate.”
It happened around 2 a.m. Jan. 23 in the eastbound lanes of the highway at the Paw Paw exit. Abbott said a deputy was helping respond to a crash involving three semi-trucks and a minivan.
“One of the semis was actually blocking partial lanes, so we had to shut the highway down,” Abbott explained. “If we didn’t, then obviously cars would come up on that semi too fast, realize they’re in their lane, and we could have had a catastrophe with a major pileup…”
Deputies closed the road and laid down road flares to direct traffic off the highway.
“The (deputy) was putting down the last flare and his partner actually yelled at him because he seen a semi that wasn’t slowing down, blew the flare pattern,” Abbott said. “Fortunately, this deputy wasn’t injured. He ran into the median to avoid being hit by this semi. Fortunately, the semi (driver) didn’t at the last minute realize what he was doing (and) swerve into the median to avoid anything, otherwise he would have hit and killed our deputy.”
He said the partner’s warning likely saved the deputy’s life.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,” a bodycam recorded the partner saying as the semi drove past. “Get out! Get out!”
“We got a semi that just busted through,” another officer can be heard reporting over the radio.
“He just blew through the barricade,” the partner reported.
“There was no excuse for it,” Abbott told News 8. “The flare pattern was set up. The lane was blocked by the patrol car, overheads (flashing lights) were on. Everything was in place. There was zero excuse for that semi driver, other than not paying attention or in a hurry.”
The sheriff said another semi-truck then drove past, the driver not realizing that the first semi had ignored a closure.