La Grange Township, MI. — The Cass County Sheriff’s Office says a woman suffering a medical issue Friday passed out at the wheel, before her vehicle went off a road and struck a tree.
It happened around 7:42 a.m., at Pokagon Highway and Oak Grove Road in La Grange Township. That’s south of Dowagiac and west of Cassopolis.
Sheriff’s deputies say 31-year-old Erika Lane Stoop of Dowagiac and her four-year-old daughter were heading westbound on the highway at the time. Stoop later told police she was having a medical problem, and put her hazard lights on to pull over. That’s when – according to witnesses – Stoop’s vehicle ran off the roadway, traveled up and over Oak Grove Road, and hit the tree on the other side of the road.
The Sheriff’s Office says Stoop and her daughter were driven by LifeCare Ambulance to Memorial Hospital of South Bend.
Investigators say alcohol was not a factor in the one-car crash, and Stoop and her daughter were properly secured in the vehicle with a seatbelt and front-facing car seat, respectively.
Assisting sheriff’s deputies at the scene were members of the Cass Fire Department and Pokagon Tribal Police.
