Police: 19-year-old drove drunk, killing 81-year-old in head-on crash

(FOX 2) - A 19-year-old is suspected of driving drunk when she hit and killed an 81-year-old German immigrant in a head-on collision last Thursday.

Hans Schwallbach survived his hometown being bombed during the air raids of World War II. He eventually made his way to metro Detroit to start a new life. 

"He had to survive coming through refugee camps, became a legal U.S. citizen," said Hans Schwallbach III, his son. "He was in the U.S. Army, that's how he paid for a degree. That is how he got a degree and worked at Ford Motor Company. And he raised us to do things right."

Clinton Township police say 19-year-old Morgan Coley was drunk when the truck she was driving crossed the median on Utica Road near Moravian into oncoming traffic, colliding head on with Schwallbach's car. 

"We heard a loud crash," said a witness. "We've lived here 12 years. That is the first time we have heard anything that bad."

Schwallbach, a father, grandfather and husband to his wife of nearly 50 years died at the hospital. His son recalled their last phone call. 

"He actually would chuckle," his son said. "I go, 'I love you Dad.' I always made sure that was the last thing I ever said to him. He sometime would chuckle and say I love you too. Those were the last words I said to him."

Police say there was someone else in the truck with the teen. The 23-year-old owner of the truck was in the passenger seat at the time of the crash.

If convicted of driving under the influence causing death Coley could spend up to 15 years in prison. 

"I don't know what happened in that truck," his son said. "All I know is in one blink of an eye, I have no father anymore."