Police looking for tips after memorial for 4 fatal crash victims vandalized
Laura Fitzgerald
Police are asking the public for help after a memorial for four people who died in a Cottrellville Township crash in 2020 was vandalized.
St. Clair County Sheriff Public Information Officer Erika Hrynyk said the vandalism was reported by a passerby shortly before noon Sunday.
Located at the corner of Starville and Broadbridge roads, one cross at the memorial was covered in spray paint and another was broken and discarded. Other items at the memorial site were thrown into the nearby brush, Hrynyk said.
Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call the detective bureau at (810) 987-1711.
On Aug. 25, 2020, a 1997 Chevrolet Tahoe was west on Broadbridge Road and failed to stop at the intersection of Broadbridge and Starville roads, colliding with a 2020 Ford Expedition, sending it about 75 feet off the roadway into the woods at the southwest corner.
The Tahoe came to rest approximately 30 feet off the roadway and was on fire upon the arrival of first responders.
Read more: Families remember victims of Cottrellville Twp. fatal crash
Micheal Willis, a 37-year-old Lapeer man, and Nicholas DeMara, a 34-year-old New Baltimore woman, both passengers of the Tahoe, were killed in the crash. Michael Chipman, 40, and Keri Chipman, 37, a married couple from Cottrellville Township, the occupants of the Expedition, were also killed in the crash.
Contact Laura Fitzgerald at (810) 941-7072 or lfitzgeral@gannett.com.