St. Johns native dies of injuries suffered in 4-car crash near Traverse City

A St. Johns High School graduate critically injured in a northern Michigan traffic crash on his way to work this week has died, authorities said.Curtis John Prohaska, 33, newly relocated to Cedar, died Friday, Aug. 23 at Munson Medical Center in Traverse City after suffering a serious head injury during a 4-car accident in Garfield Township the day prior.Grand Traverse County sheriff’s deputies said Prohaska was in his Jeep approaching a stop sign on Secor Road about 6:30 a.m. when his vehicle was rear-ended and pushed into the path of southbound traffic on West Sliver Lake Road.Accident reconstruction deputies on Friday corrected the sequence of events that was previously reported to the media.Deputies say Prohaska’s Jeep was pushed into another vehicle before being hit by a GMC Jimmy driven by Alexis DeGabriele, 23, of Traverse City, who was traveling south on West Silver Lake Road.Deputies said the accident was triggered when a Pontiac minivan driven by Michael Wear, 23, of Beulah, struck Prohaska’s Jeep from behind, pushing it and a stopped pickup truck driven by Scott Bishop, 46, of Traverse City, into the intersection.Wear was treated for non life-threatening injuries. Neither Bishop nor DeGabriele were injured. All parties involved were wearing seatbelts.Prohaska, 33, and his wife, Becky, had just recently moved to Leelanau County from downstate to start new jobs in the education field, according to an online Curtis Prohaska Memorial Fund page.According to the fund page, the accident occurred just days after Prohaska’s 33rd birthday, while he was driving to his new job as an informational technology technician at the Traverse Bay Intermediate School District. His wife, Becky, had recently begun teaching English at Traverse City West Senior High School.