Alayiah Lazzara, Erin Louise Jones, and two other teenagers have died following a fatal wrong-way car crash on US-131 in Allegan County, Michigan. The fatal collision occurred early Sunday morning.
Fatal Allegan County car crash death of Alayiah Lazzara, Erin Louise Jones, and two unidentified teens.
Deputies confirmed the death of seventeen-year-old Alayiah Lazzara on Tuesday, identifying her as a passenger in the vehicle that was traveling correctly on US-131. She was a student at Community High School. The Allegan County Sheriff’s Office identified the driver of the Subaru Legacy as thirty-eight-year-old Erin Louise Jones of Grand Rapids. The driver of the Ford Fusion struck by Jones was identified as eighteen-year-old Emmanuel Browning of Kalamazoo.
The accident happened on the northbound lane of US-131 around 1:00 a.m. Sunday. According to the Sheriff’s Office, Jones left the highway at 129th Avenue, executed a U-turn, and drove against oncoming traffic for several miles. Attempts to stop her were unsuccessful until she collided head-on with Browning’s Ford Fusion.
Official reports state that Jones, Browning, and an eighteen-year-old male passenger in the Ford Fusion died at the scene of the deadly crash. Three other individuals involved were transported to the hospital later that morning in critical condition. The Sheriff’s Office has not yet released the names of these injured passengers, although school officials confirmed one is a student from Comstock High School. Browning was confirmed to have graduated from Portage Northern High School.
An official investigation into the cause of the fatal accident is ongoing. Sheriff’s Lt. Brandon Berens mentioned on Monday that preliminary evidence suggests alcohol might have contributed to the crash, but a final determination is pending.
