Police: Alcohol, cellphone use factors in fatal crash in Freedom Township

Chelsey Northrup killed Sunday night in crash on Parker Road

FREEDOM TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Michigan State Police say the driver of pickup truck that slammed into a 21-year-old Saline woman Sunday night, killing her, could have been drinking and on his cellphone.

Police said Garrett Roe, 36, allegedly crossed the center line of Parker Road near Scio-Church Road in Freedom Township in his Ford F-150 and hit Chelsey Northrup, who was in a Ford Fusion.

Northrup was pronounced dead at the scene.

Roe suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

A trooper who was responding to the scene suffered a broken ankle while obtaining first-aid supplies, police said.

Police say Northrup was heading southbound on Parker Road. Roe was traveling northbound when his cellphone rang.

"During the (police) interview he claimed he was reaching for his phone and took his eyes off the road and when he looked back up he had crossed the center line, and he struck the other vehicle," said Sgt. Mark Thompson, of the Michigan State Police.

Police also suspect alcohol was a factor. They are investigating whether Roe may have been texting.


-- The Ford Fusion involved in the crash.


-- Roe's Ford F-150 after the crash.


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