High tensions on Mackinac Bridge: Fatal crash and two gun-involved road rage incidents in one day
Jun. 15—MACKINAW CITY — Police said a series of incidents on the Mackinac Bridge during the recent weekend involved a fatal motorcycle wreck, a shooting and a gun brandishing — all on the same day.
First, a fatal motorcycle wreck Saturday morning on the Mackinac Bridge led to long traffic backups. At least one of the gun-related incidents that followed was connected to lengthy traffic delays associated with the deadly crash, authorities said. There was a road rage shooting in the early afternoon hours, then a gun brandishing incident just before sunset, authorities said.
Police said by the end of the day a Cheboygan man was dead, a Ludington man was jailed in St. Ignace, and a North Carolina man had been chased down and arrested in Mackinac City.
Michigan State Police troopers reported a 78-year-old Cheboygan man died on the bridge at 10:30 a.m. in a head-on collision with a pickup truck, and authorities subsequently warned motorists about long waits while approaching the 5-mile-long crossing of the Straits of Mackinac between the Upper and Lower Peninsulas.
Amid the backed-up traffic, MSP Lt. Derrick Carroll said a 63-year-old man from Williamsburg apparently would not allow a 65-year-old Ludington man to merge into a particular lane of traffic along U.S. Highway 2 in the U.P.; it happened again when they approached the toll booths on Interstate 75 on the northern end of the bridge, he said.
"At some point on the other side of the toll booth they saw each other again," Carroll said.
The Ludington man allegedly struck the Williamsburg man's vehicle with his own, he said, and the latter got out to confront the former after the collision. That's when the Ludington man pointed a handgun in the air and fired one shot, Carroll said.
"Even if you shoot in the air, what goes up must come down," the lieutenant said, adding it endangered bridge workers who often are on the historic structure for their jobs.
Troopers arrested the Ludington man and seized both a .40 caliber handgun and a 9 mm handgun, along with one spent .40 caliber cartridge recovered from his driver's seat. The man was detained at the Mackinac County Jail in St. Ignace until his Monday court hearing, police said.
Authorities arraigned William Richard Pirkola of Ludington in 92nd District Court in Mackinac County for misdemeanor reckless discharge of a firearm. He was granted a personal recognizance bond and must return to court on July 13, records show.
The day's second gun incident on Michigan's landmark bridge happened just after 9 p.m. at the intersection at Central Avenue and Nicolet Street where Mackinac City Police Department officials said they responded to a road rage complaint that started on the bridge.
Police said a motorist driving a car was in an altercation with a group of motorcyclists who accused him of brandishing a gun and pointing it at least one of them. The suspect fled when an officer attempted to pull him over and a short pursuit happened, authorities said.
Police said they learned the man also allegedly struck one of the motorcyclists with his vehicle, and when they stopped him they seized a loaded pistol from beneath the driver's seat. Police arrested the motorist for felonious assault, fleeing and eluding, concealed weapons violation and drunken driving, Mackinaw City Police said.
The man — a 53-year-old who police said recently moved back to Michigan from North Carolina — was detained at Cheboygan County Jail in Cheboygan to await arraignment.
