Detroit man killed in Telegraph crash leaving mangled wreck; medical emergency suspected

FOX 2 - A 70-year-old Detroit man is dead in a crash that had closed down northbound Telegraph at Long Lake Wednesday.

The backstory:

Investigators believe the accident was likely caused by a medical emergency as the driver was seen weaving through traffic before hitting other vehicles.

Driving on Telegraph from Lone Pine, he finally hit a box truck, which crushed his SUV sometime after 10 a.m. 

Three vehicles were involved total with no other injuries reported.

As of 3:19 p.m. all lanes were reopened on the northbound side of Telegraph. 

"When the car got in front of our station it bounced off the curb," said James Gallagher, Bloomfield Township police chief. "The officer tried making contact and tried catching up to the vehicle as it crossed Long Lake where it almost hit a second vehicle.

"Before the officer could make a stop the vehicle, struck several vehicles near Hickory Grove and crashed in the back of the box truck."

The police chief said there was an extensive extrication effort by your fire department but the driver was killed.

"The results of the crash were catastrophic," he said.

Amazingly, there were no other injuries.

FOX2: "Any idea why the driver was driving so unusual?"

"We don’t know at this point. Preliminarily we think the driver had a medical emergency while driving based on all the information we had, some of the witness statements from where they were coming from," Gallagher said.

Bloomfield Hills fire department, along with Troy and Bloomfield Hills responded.  All part of SOCIT- the south Oakland crash investigating team.  

The crash took nearly six hours to clear creating a major back up on northbound Telegraph from Long Lake to Hickory Grove.