WHITE LAKE TOWNSHIP, Mich. – An Oakland County family is mourning the death of 23-year-old driver, who was fatally injured Saturday by a falling tree.
Kerry Schultz of West Bloomfield was driving on Pontiac Lake Road in White Lake Township. A large tree, which had stood near the road, collapsed onto his Mercury Mountaineer.
Although Schultz was apparently knocked unconscious, the vehicle continued for at least another 100 yards before it left the roadway.
It plunged down an embankment to the edge of Pontiac lake. Rescuers used the Jaws of Life to free him. But Schultz died the next day.
"It's one of those things – a second earlier or a second later, he would have been ok. But in that split second it came down and he happened to be there," said the victim's uncle, Alex Meyers.
Although two or three inches of snow had fallen overnight, the weather was calm. The tree appeared to be rotted at the base.
"He was just so happy. He had a great girlfriend, a wonderful brother and sister and a good job," said Schultz's grandmother, Liz Meyers.
Relatives said Schultz graduated from Warren Mott High School and played baseball for a community college in Kalamazoo.
He moved back home and wanted to develop a career in heating and cooling.
He had worked in maintenance at an Oakland County apartment complex.
"He would do anything for you," said Alex Meyers. "He was the best nephew you could ever ask for."