Man involved in fatal 3 car crash finds out victim was his friend

HARRISON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WJBK) - An 18-year-old Chesterfield Township man is killed in a head-on crash early Monday morning.

The incident happened just before 3 a.m. Monday on North River Road in Harrison Township. investigators say an 18-year-old man driving a BMW started to pass a motorist in front of him who was driving a Saab.

Instead of passing the car in front of him, the 18-year-old side-swiped the Saab and then ran into into a Chevy Malibu traveling in the opposite direction. The impact caused the BMW to catch fire in the head-on collision and its driver to die.

Officials say when the driver of the Saab went to check on the BMW's driver, he was shocked to find it was a friend of his. The third driver in the Malibu was injured but police have not released his condition.

"As he got closer to the vehicle he realized that the driver who had been involved in the crash was a friend of his who he had been with earlier in the evening," Macomb County Sheriff Anthony Wickersham said.

At this time investigators won't reveal where the two had met up prior to the accident, they will only call it an "activity."

"I don't have that information right now of what the connection was," Wickersham said. "If they went to high school together, they work together, we're piecing everything together."

Investigators say they are also looking at factors that could have led to the accident.

"A lot of answers we don't have just yet," Wickersham said. "We'll be looking at all factors whether alcohol speed all those things played into this crash."

Investigators also say when it's legal to pass a vehicle on the road do so with extreme caution.

"When it's legal to pass you have that responsibility to be able to pass in a safe manner, that you are able to pass that vehicle you are overtaking and get back in the lane and not cause a hazard to either the vehicle or oncoming traffic," Wickersham said. "If there is a no passing zone that's there for a reason because you're  not going to be able to see oncoming traffic."