MUSKEGON, Mich. — An 18-year-old woman is dead following a crash in Muskegon County Wednesday.
Family says Lexi had spent just one day at an externship at local urgent care, studying to be a medical assistant.
Her mom, Kimberly Hayes-Kottman, was at Disney World with her younger two children and husband Uwe Kottman, when on their first day at the park, she got the news.
“We were at Disney World,” Kottman said. “Basically put our earbuds in, in front of a crowd there, and then she was gone.”
The crash happened at Carr and Apple in Egeleston Township around 12:30pm when police say a Volkswagen and pick-up truck collided.
“There’s been way too many deaths in that area,” said Kottman already knowing someone who died nearby. “One of my coworkers from the hospital, her husband died. And left her with a baby that wasn’t even born yet.”
Officially, at the intersection, the last death was in 2017—according to the Muskegon County Sheriff.
But deaths on Apple Avenue are all too common. One month ago, a pedestrian was hit and killed on Apple.
“It’s just terrible out there,” Kottman explained.
At the specific intersection, Carr and Apple, there have been reports of 43 crashes; 30 total injuries, and one death in the last five years, according to the Michigan State Police.
Lexi's mother says a blinking yellow light there isn't is not enough.
“I mean yeah, I’m sure they could put in some traffic lights. Something to slow things down in that area. Make people pay more attention,” Kratton said. “She was bubbly and sweet, and funny, and a little ditzy and wild, stubborn.”
The Muskegon County Sheriff’s Office told FOX 17 the expansion of a mobile home community in the area to the north of that intersection will only add to traffic in the area in the coming months.
Four other people were injured in Wednesday's crash, which remains under investigation.
