Traverse City Record-Eagle

Emmet County

August 21, 2009

Four dead in four-vehicle crash

Collision set in motion when car crosses center line

BY SHERI McWHIRTER

GAYLORD -- Three young lives were lost in an instant, and a community mourns.

Daniel Firman, 25, and brothers Christian Hunley, 17, and Aaron Hunley, 16, all from Gaylord, died Thursday in a four-vehicle crash near Petoskey. They were members of Grace Baptist Church in Gaylord, where Sunday's services are expected to be emotional.

Andrew Erickson, 17, of Elmira, died Friday from crash-related injuries.

The deaths shocked the close-knit congregation in Gaylord, said John Hunley, the brothers' uncle.

"Their faith was very important to them. We know we're all going to meet in heaven again," he said.

Christian Hunley, Grace Baptist Christian School's 2009 valedictorian, was set to attend a Christian college in Florida next week, while Aaron Hunley was to be a high school junior this year.

Betsy Linstrum taught the Hunley brothers at Grace Baptist.

Both Hunleys were very devout and served in the church's teen outreach ministries, she said.

Firman, a Grace Baptist College graduate, frequently volunteered to do maintenance at the church and college, Linstrum said.

"He gave a lot of his time to helping with anything that needed done," she said.

The wreck happened Thursday on U.S. 31 near Lake Grove Road in Emmet County.

A passenger car crossed the center line and into the path of a tractor-trailer driven by Kelly McCord, 47, of Prescott. The car side-swiped the semi, causing it to blow a tire and veer into oncoming traffic. The semi then struck a pickup truck pulling a utility trailer.

Meanwhile, the passenger car continued to skid down the road and collided head-on with another semitrailer driven by George Gemski, 50, of White Cloud.

The pickup truck was on fire when emergency responders arrived and once extinguished, authorities extricated the victims, only one still alive.

Firman drove the pickup and the Hunley brothers and Erickson were his passengers. Erickson survived the crash and was air-lifted to Munson Medical Center, where he died Friday afternoon, a hospital official said.

McCord and Gemski were treated for minor injuries, as was the passenger car driver.

Police refused to release the name of the man who drove the passenger car, pending likely criminal charges, said Lt. Anthony Rice, director of the Petoskey Department of Public Safety.

Authorities closed the highway for 12 hours to investigate and clean up the crash, opening it around 4 a.m. Friday.

Nelson Funeral Home in Gaylord will handle funeral arrangements for Firman and the Hunley brothers. Call (989) 732-1770 or visit www.nelsonsfuneralhome.com for more information.

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