A 16-year-old from Lansing is dead after a falling tree hit the pick-up he was riding in Wednesday morning in Cass County. The sheriff’s department says the pick-up was northbound on M-40 in Newberg Township around 6:30 a.m. when the tree fell on to the truck’s cab. The truck then left the road and hit some trees. The driver of the truck, 52-year-old Michael Rinehart, of Lansing, was taken to a hospital to be treated for his injuries, while the passenger, 16-year-old Nicholas Hewitt, was pronounced dead at the scene. Both were wearing seat belts, and the crash remains under investigation.
