Car slams into semi-truck killing elderly driver in Clinton Twp

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A car slammed into a semi-truck crushing the vehicle underneath the trailer. The impact killed the elderly man behind the wheel.

A man is killed in an accident at a busy intersection after his car crashed into a semi and got lodged underneath, what police believe caused this horrific collision. 

The victim was 93 years old.

Loved ones at the scene were devastated by the news of an elderly Clinton Township man, killed when his car collided with a semi-trailer.

"It sounded like an explosion," said Dante Bartalino.  "So I ran outside, hurried up, and got 911 on the phone."

The sound of the impact was so loud; it was heard in homes a block away.

"I saw they had it all blocked off so I knew it was bad," a neighbor said. "Curiosity got the best of me."

The crash happened at about 9 a.m. Tuesday morning. Police believe a 2005 Buick sedan was traveling west bound on 19 Mile, struck a semi-truck heading north on Garfield.

A portion of Garfield near the intersection had to be shut down through the afternoon.

"Eye-witness accounts say that the passenger car possibly ran a red light, impacted (and) t-boned the semi-trailer," said Sgt. Chris Allis of Clinton Township police.

Police rushed to the scene and extracted this car from underneath the semi-truck, but they say, it was already too late.

The elderly man died at the scene. Police say the driver of the semi is uninjured and cooperating with the investigation.

FOX2: "What have you heard from the truck driver so far?"

"He just was going through the green light, and he saw it out of his side vision," Allis said. "The car hit him, and he stopped as fast as he could."

So far, police are ruling this an accident and do not believe drugs or alcohol were involved.

"My prayers go out to the family because these accidents, these accidents are just horrific," the neighbor said.