Taylor police: Teen on moped went against red light, fatally crashing into car

ALLEN PARK. Mich. (FOX 2) - At Allen Park High School’s home game against Redford Union Friday Night, the gathering was about more than football as a community came together.

Family and friends say 16-year-old Alan Rodgers a junior standout for Allen Park died when his moped crashed with a car in the area of Ecorse and Telegraph in Taylor Thursday afternoon.

"When you have a child and I’m considering a 16-year-old still a child - it’s devastating," said Taylor Police Chief John Blair. "It’s the impact on their family, their friends, their school."

Blair says everyone is in grief - including the driver who survived.

"The other driver that was involved, he’s shaken up. His family is shaken up and our police family is shaken up," Blair said. "A lot of us have children and it’s hard to see that and you can’t un-see what you’ve seen out there."

Taylor investigators say the teen was driving his moped westbound on Ecorse and was approaching an intersection when the driver of a car going eastbound tried to make a left on to the southbound Telegraph ramp.

"We do have some witness statements that the light was red," Blair said. "It appears that the moped tried to proceed through, saw the car was turning. He tried to ditch the bike or drop the bike, lay it down - and unfortunately was unsuccessful and suffered fatal injuries."

Chief Blair says the teen was not wearing a helmet at the time.

The news is still so fresh for so many and Rodgers' classmates wore blue to support his team - all while processing so many lessons to come from this.

"I always talk to people about driving motorcycles to wear helmets. I think that may have helped in this instance," Blair said. "For drivers, drivers - look twice. Motorcycles are easy to miss. We don’t want to have those mistakes."