Five cyclists killed, four injured in Michigan car crash

[June 08, 2016]  (Reuters) - Five cyclists were killed and four injured on Tuesday evening when a pickup truck collided with a cycling group along a road in southwest Michigan, officials said.

The cyclists were struck at about 6:30 p.m. local time along the shoulder of a rural road north of Kalamazoo, Michigan, by a pickup truck driven by a 50-year-old man, Kalamazoo County Prosecuting Attorney Jeff Getting told a news conference.

The man, who was not identified, was taken into custody. Charges against the driver could be filed on Thursday, Getting said.

Five bike riders were pronounced dead at the scene while four riders were taken to hospital. The identification of those killed and injured will not be made public until families are notified, Getting said.

Local ABC affiliate WZZM reported that one rider was in critical condition and another was in fair condition. The condition of the other two injured riders was unclear, the news station said.

Several local law enforcement agencies received calls about how the vehicle was being driven about 30 minutes before the collision, according to Getting.

"The police were actively looking for the vehicle based on the information that was called into them," he said.

Kalamazoo County Undersheriff Paul Matyas told local broadcaster WOOD, an NBC affiliate, that the driver fled on foot after the collision but was later taken into custody.

Getting said the driver was taken into custody after he was found a short distance away from the collision.

An earlier report said children were involved, but Getting said that all cyclists killed and injured were adults. He did give further details about the bike riding group.

(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco and Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Michael Perry and Frances Kerry)

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