2 Die in Separate Labor Day Weekend Accidents

A 71-year-old Warren woman drowned in Saturday morning after she stood up in a 12-foot rowboat she and her husband had rented, toppling both of them and sending them into Stony Creek Lake, authorities said.

The accident occurred around 9:20 a.m. near Stony Creek Metropark, the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. The victim has been identified as Joyce Kuhn.

A man who was kayaking nearby told deputies that he heard a splash and paddled over to assist the couple, according to the release. The witness said Kuhn’s husband, 58, was holding his wife and trying to keep her head above water.

Other kayakers attempted to help, but they were unable to get the people out of the water until a Metroparks Police boat arrived. Washington Township Fire/EMS responded as well.

First responders performed CPR and Kuhn was transported to Troy Beaumont Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

After the initial response, the incident was turned over to the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office for investigation.

The couple were not wearing life-jackets at the time of the incident. The water is approximately 12 feet deep where the incident occurred. Anyone who may have witnessed the incident is asked to contact the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office at (586) 307-9412.

Kuhn’s death was one of two over the Labor Day Weekend in Metro Detroit. Michigan State Police said a wrong-way driver is blamed for a fatal crash in Oakland County about 5:30 a.m. Monday.

The driver was heading northbound in the southbound lanes of Interstate 75 at Grange when he crashed head-on into another vehicle. Details remained sketchy Monday evening, but one person was killed and another was seriously injured, State Police said.

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