Oakland County Sheriff's Deputy Recovering After Cruiser Collides With Oncoming SUV

Oakland County Sheriff's Deputy Dennis Nault is home recovering after his cruiser was involved in a collision in Oakland Township during Sunday's snowstorm.

Nault, who suffered minor bruises, a small cut and minor burns on one hand from the air bag's deployment, is scheduled to return to work Wednesday.

His Tahoe, however, will take more time to repair.

Nault, a 37-year veteran of the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, was driving south on Orion Road in Oakland Township just before 9 a.m. when the incident occurred.

"When he crested the hill on Orion Road at Lake George, driving in his own lane a little bit below the speed limit due to the weather conditions, an oncoming vehicle lost control and slid into his lane and was basically sideways in his lane," said Lt. Thomas Parker, Oakland Township substation commander.

It was "basically a T-bone collision," Parker said.

Nault tried to swerve to avoid the vehicle, but the icy conditions prevented him from doing so, and he struck the oncoming vehicle with the right front end of the cruiser.

According to police reports, a third vehicle, traveling behind the cruiser, then crashed into a nearby brick mailbox.

None of the occupants of the civilian vehicles were injured, and all were examined and released at the scene except for Nault, who was transported to Pontiac Osteopathic Hospital for examination. He was later released.

Nault's cruiser – the only four-wheel-drive SUV cruiser at the substation – experienced "heavy front-end damage, and it will be out of commission for several weeks," said Parker, who added that if Nault had been driving one of the much smaller Impala cruisers, he may not have fared so well.

Nault will return to duty Wednesday, and will use one of the other cruisers on hand at the substation.

Correction: When this article was first published, it read that the incident occurred just before 9 p.m. That was incorrect; the incident occurred just before 9 a.m.