Fatal accident raises questions

PAW PAW, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – A deadly crash over the weekend is sparking a lot of questions.

Deputies were dispatched to an accident in Van Buren County early Saturday morning. They say 37-year-old Keith Rapp of Kalamazoo was driving a Blazer on Red Arrow Highway, when he crossed the center line and collided with a Ford Ranger.

Deputies say the driver of the Ranger, 23-year-old Jeffrey Haas of Decatur died on the scene.

On Monday night, we're learning there's more to this crash. When Newschannel 3 first received word of the crash on Saturday, it seemed fairly straightforward. Then, we started getting phone calls and emails from witnesses, and we realized we weren't being told everything by authorities.

The crash happened in Paw Paw early Saturday morning, and Zack Gumper, Neil Guzman, and their roommate were the first to see it.

"Me and Dan, one of my roommates, heard a crash or bang," said Gumper. "We ran out of his room and we looked out this window and we saw fire."

The men ran outside and saw a pickup truck and a Chevy Blazer had collided head on.

"There was one on fire with the hood up, it was crushed," said Guzman. "It was horrible, it was crushed, both ends were crushed."

One of the roommates checked on the drivers, neither were moving, while the others started doing what they could to help.

"We started throwing water on it, and we realized it wasn't working," said Gumper, "so we grabbed fire extinguishers from my garage."

Around that time they heard help on the way.

"It was such a haze, we saw the sirens coming," said Gumper, "we just figured it was the cops so we didn't think to move or anything."

That proved to be a mistake.

"It was just starting to rain and the pavement was wet, there was a lot of smoke going everywhere," said Gumper.

Gumper says the first car, a Van Buren County Sheriff's Deputy, managed to avoid the wreck.

"Then another cop car came from that direction and rear-ended the Ranger," said Gumper.

At least four witnesses and the tracks left on the road indicate that the impact was severe. The second impact from a Paw Paw City Police car moved the Ford Ranger at least 50 feet. The driver of that truck, 23-year-old Jeff Haas, was pronounced dead at the scene, but it's not clear if the first or second impact killed him.

The press release from the Sheriff's Office made no mention of the second crash at all, and it wasn't mentioned to Jeff's father when he received the news at 6:00 am Saturday morning.

"I opened the door, I saw a squad car, went outside and they were very pleasant, very nice, and I knew then that something was wrong," said Stanley Haas, the father of the victim.

Haas had no idea what happened until he went to see his son's car hours later at the wrecker.

"I noticed the back of the Ranger was kicked sideways. We looked closer, the rear axle of the truck was laying beside the truck, it was not attached," said Haas. "The point of impact was obvious, black paint was all over."

Then, Haas noticed a piece of the police car was still in the bed of his son's truck.

"The impact had apparently shot the hood into the back of the truck," said Haas.

Now Haas wants to know why no one told him this sooner.

Newschannel 3 has been trying to contact the Van Buren County Sheriff's Office as well as Paw Paw Police, but we have received no response from either about the allegations.

However, State Police have verified that the Van Buren County Sheriff's Office is investigating both the initial head-on collision and the second crash involving a Paw Paw Police officer.

Newschannel 3 did speak with the Paw Paw City Manager. He wouldn't tell us which officer was involved in the crash, but did say that no officers have been placed on leave during the investigation.