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Victim’s body, wreckage not found until hours after crash.
#OceanaCountyNews
By Allison Scarbrough. Editor.
NEWFIELD TOWNSHIP — The body of a 22-year-old Mears woman who died in a two-car crash Thursday, June 22, on M 20 near 198th Avenue was found by a passerby several hours after the crash, according to the victim’s cousin Robert Smith.
Amber Prowant’s body was found crushed under her vehicle approximately six hours after the crash, Smith said.
Smith said his co-worker Brian McCallum discovered the skid marks while driving past the scene at approximately 8:30 a.m. He followed the skid marks out into the woods and found the wreckage with the young woman’s body crushed underneath. “It may have been too late for her anyway,” Smith said.
“It wasn’t anything done intentionally, but the troopers did miss it,” said MSP Sgt. Adam Clement of the Hart post.
Prowant, who was not wearing a safety belt, was ejected from the vehicle after it went airborne into the woods, said Clement.
Several factors contributed to the mistake of not finding her vehicle, he said. The crash occurred in the darkness at approximately 2 a.m. in rainy conditions. The complaint to Central Dispatch was reported as a one-vehicle crash, Clement said.
When troopers arrived, the vehicle of the surviving driver was upside down with its rear-end against a tree. The driver was having a “diabetic emergency,” the sergeant said. “He wasn’t exactly lucid.” The driver was asking troopers if he had hit a deer.
“The troopers did look again, but it didn’t appear he was hit by another car. There was no paint transfer from another car.” The rear-end damage appeared to be caused by hitting the tree, Clement said.
Prowant’s vehicle was found “far out into the woods,” Clement said. “It was not apparent from the road.”
Both vehicles were both traveling westbound on M 20 when the crash occurred.
The surviving driver, a 28-year-old old Arizona man, was transported to Gerber Hospital in Fremont where he was treated and released.
Smith reached out to OCP because an MSP press release issued to the media last week did not mention the delay of finding Prowant’s body and the wreckage. “The family is concerned about how the situation was handled,” he said. “You can clearly see two sets of skid marks. The investigation was mishandled.”
Prowant leaves behind two young children, Smith said. “She had a hard life growing up.”
Her funeral is set for 2 p.m. Monday, June 26, at Harris Funeral Home in Shelby.
The crash remains under investigation as MSP is awaiting the accident re-constructionist’s report and toxicology results.
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