Amish buggy crash kills a girl and injures a boy in Michigan

LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A SUV struck an Amish buggy Wednesday in southwestern Michigan, killing an 8-year-old girl and injuring a 12-year-old boy, the only people in the horse-drawn vehicle, police said.

The boy's condition at a hospital was upgraded to stable from critical. The horse died as a result of the rear-end crash in Van Buren County's Lawrence Township, police said.

“The driver of the SUV was arrested and lodged at the county jail on operating under the influence of an unknown substance. She nor her two occupants were injured,” state police said on the social platform X.

The crash happened on a county road around 8 a.m.

“Be mindful that there is an Amish community. You will see horse and buggies going up and down the roadways,” Spl. Lt. DuWayne Robinson of the state police told WWMT-TV.

"They have just as much right to the roadway as passenger vehicles do,” Robinson said.

It is legal for children to be in an Amish buggy without an adult, he said.