A multi-vehicle crash in Tuscola County’s Ellington Township on Friday night has left three dead and multiple others injured.
The Tuscola County Sheriff’s Office, along with multiple other law enforcement and first responder agencies, responded to reports of a two-vehicle crash on Deckerville Road near Hurd’s Corners Road around 9:02 p.m. on Friday, September 26th.
Sheriff’s deputies determined that a 55-year old Florida man was driving a loaded commercial semi truck southbound on Hurd’s Corners Road when he failed to stop at a stop sign. The semi collided with a Jeep traveling eastbound on Deckerville Road. The eastbound vehicle was occupied by eight residents of Cass City, three of whom were pronounced dead on the scene. The other occupants of the Jeep were transported to area hospitals by helicopter and MMR, with some of the occupants in critical condition.
The driver of the semi and a female passenger were also transported to the hospital with minor injuries; the driver was later arrested and a report is being forwarded to the Tuscola County Prosecutor’s Office for formal charges.
The investigation is ongoing; no names have been released by authorities at this time. However, in a separate social media post, the Putnam family of reality TV show “Meet the Putnams” fame shared that the three killed in Friday’s accident were family patriarch Bill Putnam, his wife Barb, and their daughter-in-law Megan. Their announcement also shared that Megan’s husband and three of their children were among the five family members injured Friday night.
In recent years, the Putnams courted some controversy, with Bill found guilty of a 2021 assault against two construction workers on a project property. One of Bill’s sons, Brandon, ran for the Republican nomination for Tuscola County Sheriff in August 2024, coming in third behind now-Sheriff Ryan Robinson, with five other family members also defeated in last year’s primary election.
