EMMET COUNTY, MI. On Sunday, February 19, 2023, at approximately 7:39 p.m. troopers from the Michigan State Police (MSP) Gaylord Post responded to a four-vehicle crash on northbound I-75 near mile marker 336 in Wawatan Township.
A Jeep occupied by two men was traveling southbound in the northbound lane of I-75.
The Jeep crashed into a sedan occupied by a man and a woman.
Two more vehicles crashed, bringing the total number of vehicles involved to four.
The driver of the sedan, 21-year-old Carson Needham from Traverse City, was killed.
The female passenger, a 20-year-old woman from Oxford, was taken to McLaren Hospital in Petoskey.
The driver of the Jeep, a 78-year-old man from Indiana, was taken to St Ignace Hospital for non-lifethreatening injuries.
The passenger of the Jeep was transported to McLaren Hospital in Petoskey for life-threatening injuries. He was later stabilized. The occupants of the additional two vehicles involved in the subsequent crashes sustained non-lifethreating injuries.
Troopers were assisted at the scene by troopers from the MSP St. Ignace Post, St. Ignace Police Department, tribal police from the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), Carp Lake Township Fire Department, Mackinaw Fire Department, Emmet and Cheboygan EMS.
The crash remains under investigation.
