LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has called for flags to be lowered to half-staff in honor of two firefighters who died in a crash on a Minnesota interstate.
Snyder ordered U.S. and Michigan flags to be lowered Wednesday and Thursday on state buildings for James Shelifoe Jr. and Alan Swartz. Seven other firefighters were hurt when their truck crashed Saturday on Interstate 35W near Minneapolis.
They include Michael Johnson, the firefighter driving the truck. He’s been charged with two felony counts of criminal vehicular homicide. His request for a public defender was denied Tuesday.
A vehicle procession left a Minnesota funeral home Tuesday. Firefighters from Minnesota’s Fire Service Foundation were escorting the bodies back to the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, where the men served as Beartown firefighters in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
