VAN BUREN COUNTY (WKZO-AM) — A bizarre collision between a pickup and a piece of farm equipment is being investigated after it seriously injured a 79-year-old woman from Bloomingdale.
Van Buren County Sheriff’s Investigators say a hydraulics failure in a huge rack of plowing discs dropped one of the device’s wings directly into the path of Shirley Noble’s truck at about 3 p.m. Monday, nearly shearing off the roof.
It also took out several mailboxes along 6th Avenue, where the incident occurred.
The elderly woman had to be cut out of the small truck and was rushed to Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo, where she is listed in serious condition.
Aaron Moll, who was driving the tractor, was not injured. The 22-year-old from Kalamazoo had just completed plowing a nearby field.
When fully extended, the blades can plow a 50-foot-wide swath. The rig is owned Boersen Farms of Zeeland.
Investigators plan to turn their report over to the prosecutor when it’s complete.
UPDATE: 6/2 at 10:12 a.m. — The victim has been discharged from the hospital.
