Police: alcohol a factor in weekend crash

By Allison Scarbrough. OCP Editor.

WEARE TWP. — Police said charges are pending against a 36-year-old man who was driving a Benny’s Evergreens truck that crashed into a gravel pile in a construction zone on Monroe Road Saturday afternoon.

Porfirio Escamilla could face a “super drunk driving” charge, said Lt. Craig Mast of the Oceana County Sheriff’s Office this morning. Escamilla was airlifted to Spectrum Health due to the critical injuries he received in the crash, said Mast. His brother, 44-year-old Benito Escamilla, was a passenger in the 1998 Chevrolet pickup. He was treated for injuries at Lakeshore Hospital in Shelby, the lieutenant said. Police were completing the accident report this morning, and few other details were available. Both men were wearing their seatbelts, Mast said. “Alcohol was the main factor,” he said.

The accident occurred east of Oceana Drive on a closed section of Monroe Road. Pentwater and Hart fire departments responded to the scene along with OCSO and Oceana EMS. The pickup appeared to have been traveling east on Monroe about a half mile from Oceana Drive. The gravel pile was marked by construction barrels.