Law enforcement officers look around the Swan Creek Boat Club after a driver crashes their vehicle into a building where a child's birthday party was being held, Saturday, April 20, 2024, in the Berlin, Michigan area.
Kathleen Kildee/Associated Press
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Kathleen Kildee/Associated Press
Law enforcement officers look around the Swan Creek Boat Club after a driver crashes their vehicle into a building where a child's birthday party was being held, Saturday, April 20, 2024, in the Berlin, Michigan area.
Kathleen Kildee/Associated Press
BERLIN TOWNSHIP, MI – A young sibling was killed and several others injured when a suspected drunk driver crashed into a young child's birthday party at a boat club on Saturday, a Michigan sheriff said. , including serious injuries.
An 8-year-old girl and her 5-year-old brother died at the scene after a 66-year-old woman plunged 25 feet (7.6 meters) into a building at the Swan Creek Boat Club around 3 p.m. in the Berlin area, about 30 miles (48.2 kilometers) south of Detroit, Monroe County Sheriff Troy Goodnow said.
“First responders described the scene as extremely chaotic and emotions high among those directly involved and those who witnessed this horrific incident,” he said.
Three children and six adults suffered life-threatening injuries and were taken by two helicopters or an ambulance to area hospitals, he said. Other injured people received first aid at the scene and some were taken to hospital by private vehicle.
Goodnow did not release the identity of the woman who was driving the car, but said she was taken into custody on suspicion of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated causing death and was booked into the Monroe County Jail. She is cooperating with authorities and will likely face additional charges as her investigation progresses, she said.
Goodnow said authorities were informed that the woman may have been at a nearby tavern before the incident, adding that the establishment will be closed and a search warrant executed there as part of the investigation.
