A woman was killed in a single-vehicle motorcycle crash in Marquette County on Monday, the county’s first fatal highway crash of the year.
Jennifer Jean Vermote, 44, Escanaba, was the passenger on a motorcyle driven by a Michigan man. Vermote was pronounced dead at the scene by the Marquette County Coroner.
The county’s dispatch received a call just after 4 p.m. reporting a motorcycle crash on Highway C in the town of Mecan, according to Marquette County Sheriff Kim Gaffney. The driver, Ronald Joseph Sinnaeve, 44, told officers that while driving south on Highway C he saw a deer coming out of the woods and braked, which caused him to lose control.
The motorcycle, approaching a curve in the road, went down, sliding into the ditch on the left side of the road, and down an embankment, with Vermote going down as well. The driver and passenger were both wearing helmets at the time of the crash.
The crash is being investigated by the Marquette County Sheriff’s Office and Marquette County Coroner’s Office.