US 31 crash victim who died identified.

US 31 crash victim who died identified.

#MasonCountyNews.

FREE SOIL TOWNSHIP — The Mason County Sheriff’s Office has released the name of the victim who died following a two-vehicle crash on US 31 early Saturday morning as Christopher Patrick Kapala, 40, of Scottville. 

The crash occurred Saturday, Dec. 14, on US 31 north of Freeman Road about 4:26 a.m. 

According to Cole, a preliminary investigation has determined that a vehicle traveling southbound on US 31 crossed the centerline striking Kapala’s northbound vehicle head-on. Cole said alcohol appears to have been a factor. 

The driver of the southbound vehicle, a 33-year-old Whitehall man, was transported by ambulance to Spectrum Health Ludington Hospital with serious injuries and was then transferred to Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids for advanced care. His identify is being withheld at this time by the sheriff’s office pending toxicology results and a review of the case by the Mason County Prosecutor’s Office, according to Cole.

The crash remains under investigation by the Mason County Sheriff’s Office Crash Reconstruction Team.

Agencies responding included Mason County Sheriff’s Office, Free Soil/Meade Fire Department, Grant Township Fire Department, Life EMS, and Mason County Medical Examiner’s Office. 

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