Canton mother, teen son killed in Van Buren Twp. crash

(WJBK) - A horrific crash this week in Van Buren Township that claimed the life of three people.

Two of the victims include a mother and her teenage son from canton.

"I have the FOX 2 app and I look at it quite frequently," said Richard Uselman. "And I saw that story about the little boy surviving the six car pile-up, three people dead and four injured. I was like wow that lucky boy you know, he made it through that accident."

But what Rob Uselman could never have imagined is that his cousin Naomi Uselman and her son Dominick did not. 

On Tuesday evening police say Robert Dulin was heading south on Belleville Road and for reasons that are still unknown, he ran the red light at Ecorse causing the six-car collision.

Naomi and Dominick died instantly.

"We had no idea the car that was on fire was our family," Richard said.

Family members describe Naomi Uselman as a caring person and a devoted mother to her children. Dominick, pictured in glasses, was 13 years old and a twin. He and his brother Donovan were inseparable.

"Dominick was going to be a doctor and Donovan was going to be a football player," said Robin Uselman, Naomi's sister in law. "And so that way Dominick could fix his brother when he got hurt playing football."

Donovan was supposed to be in the car that day but at the last minute, he decided to stay home.

"For him it's going to be hard to overcome losing your mom and your twin best friend," Richard said.

For the Uselman family, it is a wake-up call that life can change in a moment.

"She was running daily errands and from our understanding the other gentleman who was killed, he was going to get a haircut with his kid," Robin said. "So everyone was just doing their everyday life things and just in the blink of an eye, it's done."

The family has a go-fund-me account to help pay for funeral costs.