Crash victim suffered ‘catastrophic brain injury’; GoFundMe page set up.

The Weston family.

#OceanaCountyNews #US31Crash

By Allison Scarbrough. Editor.

The young boy who was critically injured in the semi/two-car crash, July 5, on US 31 near Stony Lake Road in Shelby Township has suffered a “catastrophic brain injury and will likely need care and follow-up for the rest of his life,” said Oceana County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Craig Mast, who spoke with the boy’s father, Benjamin Weston.

“Ben tells me that Connor is now considered stable as he is breathing on his own,” Mast said.

Connor with his mom, at left, and nurse Kayla.

A GoFundMePage has been established to help the Weston family with expenses.

The GoFundMe page “has been developed to assist with some of the costs of caring for his son and his family who are still a long way from home as they are from the Port Huron area and are incurring a lot of costs while trying to stay with their son, Connor, while he is still a patient in Helen Devos Children’s Hospital. Mr. Weston tells me that the plan is to have Connor transferred to a rehab hospital in the Ann Arbor area as soon as he is well enough to travel by ambulance and then eventually bring him home.”

The driver of the semi, Jonathon William Ashley, 25, of Ludington, rear-ended two vehicles, one of which was transporting the Wesley family. Charges against Ashley are pending.

“He will not be cited until all injuries have stabilized,” Mast said previously.

Ashley rear-ended the two vehicles in heavy southbound traffic near New Era, according to the sheriff’s office accident report.

Ashley was driving a 2016 Freightliner owned by Apache Logistics of Holland at 12:45 p.m. when the horrific crash occurred. The accident scene backed up traffic for hours as vacationers were heading back south after the Fourth of July weekend.

Connor was 4 years old at the time of the crash and has since turned 5. He was riding in a 2000 Subaru Outback driven by his father. Also in the car were his mother, Michelle Weston, 36, and brothers, Dylan, 7, and Logan, 10. The family was traveling between destinations while on summer vacation.

The semi also struck a 2016 Mazda driven by Jerrine Marie Forrest, 34, of Greensburg, Pennsylvania.