A bright-red pickup truck slammed into a horse-drawn carriage on a rural southern Michigan road Friday, ejecting its seven Amish occupants in a tumbling crash.
Two children, ages 6 and 2, died at the scene in Algansee Township southeast of Battle Creek, police said. The pickup driver was intoxicated, police say. He was arrested at the scene.
A third child, age 4, was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. That child later died, local media reported. Another 3-year-old child suffered major injuries. One adult woman also had serious injuries, according to police.
The driver, Tyler Frye, was arrested and held on multiple charges, including three counts of operating while under the influence causing death, two counts of operating under the influence causing injury and a felony weapons charge, the Branch County Jail said Sunday.
Frye was arraigned Saturday and was being held on $500,000 bond, the jail said. It is not clear whether he has an attorney.
The violent crash was eerily reminiscent of a fatal collision three years ago and more than 100 miles away in another rural Michigan town. Three children were killed and nine people were injured in that 2017 collision, when a red pickup smashed into a buggy in Sheridan.