A life taken way too soon, accident claims life of infant girl
by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor
Savannah Kirk, who was only seven weeks old, lost her short life the day after a violent, multi-vehicle accident along M-68 Aug. 13 in Cheboygan County?s Koehler Township. Grandmother Rose Middaugh, 46, of Millersburg, Savannah?s mother Brandi, 24, and Brandi?s son Gregory Kuchinski, 3, were going to a doctor?s appointment for Rose, who was attempting a left turn from M-68 onto Afton Road.
?What I remember was I was completely stopped with my blinker on,? said Rose. She waited for oncoming traffic to clear when ?I remember feeling something from behind. The next thing I remember is being in the middle of the road.? Rose remembers peeking at Savannah and Gregory five minutes before the accident, just to see how they were doing.
ACCORDING TO a press release from the Cheboygan County Sheriff?s Department, a second vehicle driven by Sigrid Watson-Hurd, 29, of Rogers City also was westbound and impacted the rear of Middaugh?s vehicle.
This caused Middaugh?s vehicle to be pushed into the eastbound lane, impacting a boat trailer being pulled by Brian Dishinger, 32, a surgeon from Charlevoix, and causing the boat to dislodge. Dishinger was not injured.
Brandi climbed out the passenger window and pulled Gregory,who was sitting behind her, out while Savannah had been sitting in the middle.
?Her car seat was crushed together, so her knees were at her chest, the last thing I remember seeing,? said Brandi. ?I didn?t know they got her out of the vehicle, because I was running around trying to get people to get her out. The surgeon got her out, and from my understanding, she was not breathing, but went I went over there to see what was going on, she was gasping for air, but she needed help breathing.?
Baby Savannah was transported to Cheboygan Memorial Hospital and later airlifted with Brandi to Helen DeVos Children?s Hospital in Grand Rapids, where she died as a result of injuries sustained in the accident.
?I WAS WITH her the minute she was born, and she was just a little angel. She always had a smile on her face,? said Rose, who was treated and released in Cheboygan. Brandi refused treatment, while Gregory was transported by ambulance to Grand Rapids at the same hospital and released Monday with a broken left leg and right ankle. Doctors inserted pins in his leg and a screw in his ankle. As of Thursday, he was healing at his father?s house in Rogers City.
Rose said the support her family has been receiving has been overwhelming. ?People have been great,? said Rose. ?We received calls, cards, from everywhere. It?s not just from Onaway, it?s been from everywhere. Everyone has been great ? it?s like we have an extended family.?
She added that there is some ?anger? among family members, but there are sti
ACCORDING TO what an investigator told Brandi, Watson-Burd was not on a cell phone. ?When I talked to the police officer, they ran a check to see if it (prepaid cell phone) was active, and they said she was not on it, and that it was dead and she had no minutes on it.?
?I don?t understand what happened,? said Rose. ?If I could take that day back I would. I play it over and over again in my head and wonder what if I had done something different. I just wish that day was gone.?
Assisting the Cheboygan County Sheriff’s Department at the scene were Cheboygan Life Support, Onaway Area Ambulance, Tuscarora Township Police Tuscarora Fire Department, Presque Isle County Sheriff?s Department, Emmet County Sheriff?s Department, Michigan State Police, Cheboygan County Road Commission and Indian River Towing.