Car Crash Kills 3 Members Of MI Reality TV Family, Injures 5

Three members of a Michigan family who took center stage when they appeared in the TLC reality show "Meet the Putmans" died in a car crash Friday night.

The Putmans announced the patriarch of their family, Bill "Papa” Putman, his wife Barb, also known as “Neenee,” and Aunt Megan all died in the collision that happened in Cass City, MI, at about 9 p.m., according to police and the Putman family. Five more family members — Uncle Blake, Lulu, Alena, Noah and Gia — were injured in the collision and remained hospitalized.

"Even in this time of heartbreak, we rest in knowing that God is in control," according to a statement from the Putman family.

The collision happened when a semi truck driven by a 55-year-old Florida man was headed south on Hurds Corner Road and failed to stop for a stop sign and collided with the Putnam's Jeep, which had been headed east on Deckerville Road.

Three people inside the Jeep were pronounced dead at the scene, according to police. And five others were taken to hospitals — some who were in critical condition, according to a news release from the Tuscola County Sheriff's Office.

The driver and passenger in the semi truck were transported to the hospital for treatment of minor injuries. The driver was arrested and a report is being forward to the prosecutor for formal charges, police said.

"Meet the Putmans" aired on TLC in 2017. Bill and Barb Putman headed the household where three generations lived in the same house and "share everything from one bank account to six bedrooms and only two bathrooms." The show featured other Putman family members that included: four adult children and their spouses and 15 grandchildren.

Following the TLC series, the family shifted to airing updates on their YouTube channel, Growing Up Putman.