CBS News is reporting that a brother and sister and their mother were killed when a 50,000-pound semi-truck rolled onto their compact car on Detroit’s West Side Friday morning, according to WWJ Radio in Detroit.
Witnesses described a horrific scene in which rescue workers used Jaws of Life extrication equipment to open the Ford Focus that was crushed on Plymouth Road above the Southfield Freeway.
Rescue workers spent four hours, and used a loader borrowed from the Detroit Department of Public Works, to lift the overturned semi from the car. We got a loader from the DPW yard that assisted us to lift up the trailer the rolled over trailer while one of my trucks went and we chained the back of the car, and as the trailer was getting pulled up, we pulled the car out, Gregory Errigo, owner of Michigan Auto Recovery Services, told WWJ. Family members told WWJ the victims were Tracey Thomas, 43, her brother, William Thomas and their mother, Dorothy Thomas.
All three were pronounced dead at Sinai Grace Hospital, the radio station reported.
Saying the car was flattened like a pancake, witness Darren Foster said rescue crews had to peel back both the top and side of the Focus to reach the victims inside.
Police are still investigating the accident and have only said that the truck was heading north as the car was proceeding through the intersection at Plymouth Road.