Local law enforcement and fire department officials were kept busy last week, responding to a number of serious injury accidents that happened across Orion Township.
A hit and run incident last Wednesday left a construction flagman working on Joslyn Road lucky to be alive.
The flagman was directing traffic at a construction site on Joslyn Road near Judah Road at 9:41 a.m. on April 26, when he was severely injured by a small dump truck that struck him and then drove over his legs.
According to an Oakland County Sheriff’s Department report, the driver of the dump truck, identified as Bryan Brette, 45, of Clarkston, fled the scene, but his dump truck was located and impounded from a construction site in Independence Township.
Brette was later arrested, and was arraigned on April 28 on charges ranging from failure to stop at the scene of an accident, to felonious assault.
Brette (also known as Bryan Bette) is employed by Munro Construction in Berkley.
‘Our belief is that it was an intentional act,? said OCSD Lieutenant Bruce Naile of the hit and run.
Naile said Brette apparently became impatient while heading south on Joslyn, and crossed the double yellow line to pass stopped traffic.
He then stopped at the flagman and began shouting before accelerating and veering toward the man, striking him with a side mirror and knocking him to the ground.
The flagman, a 60-year-old Bad Axe man, is employed by Dan’s Excavating of Shelby Township, and was transported after the accident to Pontiac Osteopathic Hospital.
He was admitted with a fractured vertebrae and fractured ankle, according to Naile, and was later released, although he was expected to have to return to the hospital.
Brette was held on a $30,000 bond.
‘If he is released, he will have a tether placed on him,? Naile said.
Just seven minutes after the hit and run on Joslyn, a woman driving on Baldwin Road near Maybee Road caused an accident involving three vehicles.
The woman, driving a Pontiac Sunbird, struck a motorcycle, causing minor injuries to the motorcyclist.
Naile said the driver of the Pontiac was taken to the hospital because she was a diabetic, and appeared to be having a reaction.
A pickup truck was also involved in that accident.
On April 28, the Orion Township Fire Department was called to the scene of a rollover accident at M-24 and Indian Lake Road, and on April 29, another rollover occured on Indianwood Road.
That single vehicle accident left a 32-year-old Clarkston woman in critical condition.
The crash occurred on westbound Indianwood, east of Baldwin at about 12:55 p.m.
The woman lost control of her 1996 Isuzu Rodeo, running off the roadway to the right, rolling over, and finally sriking a tree.
The woman and her 6-year-old daughter had to be extricated by members of the Orion Township Fire Department.
The mother was transported by ambulance to Royal Oak Beaumont Hospital, and was said to be ‘conscious and alert.?
The daughter was transported to Royal Oak Beaumont by family members. She is expected to be treated and released with minor injuries.
According to the OCSD report, alcohol was not a factor in the crash, but the driver was using a cellular phone at the time, which may have caused her to be distracted.
The crash remains under investigation.