Driver charged after boat trailer broke from truck, fatally struck woman

A 44-year-old Holland man has been charged in connection to a crash that killed one woman after a pontoon boat and trailer broke free from the man's truck and struck her while she was walking on a bike path. (MLive File Photo)

OTTAWA COUNTY, MI – A driver has been charged in connection to a crash that left one woman dead after a pontoon boat and trailer broke free from a truck and struck her while she was walking on a bike path.

The driver, a 44-year-old Holland man, faces six charges in Ottawa County District Court and has been lodged in jail since mid-September, police said.

The crash happened July 21 on Quincy Street near 140th Avenue in Holland Township.

MLive/The Grand Rapids Press is not naming the man pending arraignment in court.

Ottawa County sheriff’s deputies say the man, towing the boat behind a 2004 GMC pickup truck, was driving west on Quincy when the trailer broke free and struck two people who were walking on the bike path.

Both were trapped under the boat and trailer until rescuers freed them.

Carmen Tirado, 62, died at the scene while a 38-year-old Holland-area resident was airlifted to the hospital by Aero Med helicopter.

The man faces single counts of a moving violation causing death, driving while license suspended causing death, failing to stop and identify causing death, moving violation causing serious injury, driving while license suspended causing serious injury, and failing to stop and identify causing serious injury.

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