Investigation into fatal crash in Mt. Pleasant that killed a construction worker at a standstill for the moment

MOUNT PLEASANT -- The Isabella County Sheriff’s Office is still no closer to figuring out what led up to a deadly crash that killed a construction worker, weeks ago in Mount Pleasant.

It happened back on September 13th, after a 66-year-old Detroit man drove into a clearly marked construction zone on Northbound US 127 and River Road in Union Township.

The sheriff’s office said the investigation is still active but it’s at a standstill right now because of technological advances in the vehicle involved in the crash.

Sheriff Michael Main said the investigation is still very much on the forefront at the sheriff’s office.

He said there are still a lot of unknowns, even after talking to the driver and witnesses and investigating the crash scene. HE said they do know the driver was not under the influence nor do they believe he fell asleep at the wheel.

Without crucial information from the vehicle, they can’t finish the investigation.

“He doesn’t know how the vehicle got into that lane. Was it an automation issue? Was it not an automation issue? Did he just fail and move into the lane, you know, because of the way the construction was set up,” said Main.

The sheriff said the other construction workers on site didn’t add much.

“It happened so fast. Most of them really didn’t know. They just seen the vehicle come by some equipment and then strike the person,” said Main.

He said as part of the investigation, they look at the event data recorder in the vehicle.

It records things such as speed, braking, and steering, kind of like a black box on a plane.

But because the man was driving a brand new 2025 Ford Bronco, the new software is making it harder for the sheriff’s office to download the information to get a clearer picture on what happened.

“We’re kind of in a holding pattern right now to get that information because this was such a new vehicle that the software that the companies that we get our software from have not updated their versions to download this,” said Main.

He said they are talking to the manufacturer of the vehicle.

“We will hold on to that vehicle as long as it takes for us to get that software to be able to download that. We are communicating with the manufacturer of the vehicle, and they’re communicating with us. But, until we get that, we’re not releasing that it’s going to stay in a secured area, until we can gather all that information,” said Main.

Main said he’s checked with Michigan State Police and the National Transportation Safety Board to see if they could help.

“We’re all kind of at the same point of we just we just don’t have the software,” said Main.

The technological advances have helped them do their jobs, but sometimes it’s hard to keep up with the advancements.

“We have a forensic team that does computer and cell phone downloads. Right. So that software is always being updated, but sometimes it’s not fast enough where you can get in these phones,” said Main.

Main said they won’t give up on finding answers, there’s no timeline on when they will get the software, but they don’t want to rush the investigation until they have the complete picture.

“We’ll hold that vehicle until we get that software and able to download and get all the information that we need for that crash,” said Main.