Witnesses: Inkster police car had no sirens on when it hit, killed mother and son in crash

DEARBORN HEIGHTS, Mich. (FOX 2) - A mother and son are dead after a devastating car crash involving an Inkster police cruiser in Dearborn Heights - and a family is now in mourning.

It happened on Cherry Hill near Inkster Road Friday evening. A spokesman for Michigan State Police, which is handling the investigation, says an Inkster police officer was headed westbound on Cherry Hill responding to a call of a child hit by a car.

At the same time 45-year-old Oweeta Wilkins and her 10-year-old son Aaron, were headed eastbound on Cherry Hill, turning into the Happy's Pizza parking lot.

"The (police) SUV broadsided that Buick, the 45-year-old driver was killed instantly along with a 10-year-old male," said Michigan State Lt. Michael Shaw.

Witness Manny Hakani said that the mother and her child were sent airborne.

"They flew in the air," said Hakani. "The stuff you see in the movies, that's literally what I saw."

Witnesses say it's likely Wilkins did not see or hear that police SUV bearing down on her.

"Her front bumper was literally in the driveway and he smacked her," said witness Andrea Chambers. "His lights were on, but his sirens were not on. His sirens turned on when he hit the girl.

"Then he got out of the car, and then he got out of the car and then everybody started checking the officer but they weren't checking the lady. And then someone went over there, they pushed her back and then they started checking her five to eight minutes after the accident happened and realized and pronounced her dead."

"I don't know what the officer's efforts were as far as getting out of the vehicle. we're looking at the crash itself right now," said Shaw. "First and foremost we have to determine if the lights and sirens were on."

Wilkins, the woman killed, her daughter works at Happy's Pizza and it is possible that she saw the crash that took her mom's and baby brother's life. MSP said it will examine the dashcam on the SUV and also figure out what happened in the moments leading up to the crash after reviewing the black box info from the SUV.