Mount Pleasant man dies in one-car accident Saturday night
A Mount Pleasant man died Saturday night after crashing into a parked Caterpillar front-end loader on a bridge in Union Township.
Newell Thomas Dennis Jr., 54, crashed into the construction vehicle while driving north on South Isabella Road near East Valley Road. The road was closed and had multiple signs and barricades noting its closure.
The construction site began shortly after the signs and barricades.
Isabella County Sheriff Leo Mioduszewski said Dennis drove through a ditch next to the road to avoid the barricades. Upon returning to the road, he sped up and eventually struck the Caterpillar.
“He went about a quarter mile or so and ended up hitting the front loader,” Mioduszewski said.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The sheriff’s department will send out an accident reconstruction team sometime this week to recreate the circumstances, including how fast Dennis was traveling at the time of the accident.
A press release from the sheriff’s department indicated alcohol played a role in the accident, although to what extent is unknown.
“They’re going to take his blood,” Mioduszewski said, “but there were some indications that alcohol played a factor.”
Dennis was the only person involved in the accident.
