Man charged with OWI after Berrien County road worker gets hit, killed by vehicle

BERRIEN COUNTY, Mich. (WNDU) – Police have identified a Berrien County Road Commission employee who was killed after getting hit by a vehicle while working on Wednesday afternoon.

According to the Berrien Springs Oronoko Township Police, officers were called to Red Bud Trail near Glendora Road around 3 p.m.

Officers say that the employee, identified as William “Mack” Isom, 57, of Baroda, had been working on cutting up a fallen tree which was in the roadway when Taylor Johnson, 34, of Buchanan, was driving south on Red Bud Trail and collided with both the tree and Isom.

Isom was pronounced dead at the scene. 16 News Now learned that Isom had worked with the department for 25 years. He was the lead worker at the Baroda garage.

All Berrien County road facilities will be closed for the rest of the week.

Susan Schuab, who lives nearby, says her husband was likely one of the last people to see Isom alive.

“My husband came home first. When he came home, he saw that the tree was down and he saw the county road worker who waived him around the tree. He drove onto the grass to go around, he came into our driveway, went into the garage, and closed the door. It wasn’t until later until we heard another car had come along and had hit both the tree and the worker and had killed the worker,” Schuab says.

Johnson sustained minor injuries and was subsequently arrested for Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated Causing Death.

The crash remains under investigation.

The responding agencies involved with this investigation are the Berrien Springs Oronoko Twp. Police Department, Berrien Springs Oronoko Township Fire Department, Michigan State Police-Niles Post, and the Berrien County Road Commission/SMCAS Ambulance.

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