Good Samaritan Doctor Dies Of Injures In I-96 Crash

DETROIT, MI — The Good Samaritan Detroit doctor who was injured after she stopped to help teenagers trapped in a Jeep that had rolled over along Interstate 96 died Wednesday night, hospital officials said. Dr. Cynthia Ray, 47, was one of three people injured in the crash Sunday morning.

“Cynthia Ray, M.D., a Henry Ford Medical Group interventional pulmonologist who was hit by a car on Sunday when she stopped to help passengers in an overturned car on the freeway, passed away tonight with her family by her side,” hospital officials said in a statement.

Ray and Sean English, of Northville, a 16-year-old student at University of Detroit Jesuit High School, were both injured in the horrific chain of events. English lost a foot and both legs were broken. The driver of the vehicle that hit them, Keith Martin, 17, of Southgate, is in critical condition.

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In the statement, Dr. Mike Eichenhorn, a close friend and mentor, said “it would have been impossible for Cyndi to pass by the car that overturned because that’s the kind of person she was.”

“She was always there to help others,” he said. “At her bedside, she had visitors from all walks of life who she had helped through difficult situations. She embodied selflessness.”

Ray was on her way to work at Henry Ford Hospital when she stopped to assist the trapped teenagers and was hit by the out-of-control vehicle. Michigan State Police said in an initial report that alcohol may have been a factor based on the finding of empty beverage containers, but Martin’s family said Tuesday that hospital toxicology tests showed he was sober.

Ray’s funeral will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Kenneth Catholic Church, 14951 North Haggerty Road, in Plymouth. Doors open at 10 a.m. Memorial contributions are suggested to the Dr. Cynthia Ray Patient Rescue Fund at Henry Ford Hospital, which will provide financial and other assistance to patients with pulmonary diseases, or to the Great Lakes Weimaraner Rescue.

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Ray, a respected researcher and presenter who published articles on pulmonary medicine, joined Henry Ford Hospital as a fellow in 2005. She had served as secretary and treasurer of the Michigan Thoracic Society as well as the chairperson of the Tri-State Thoracic Society.

“Cyndi cared deeply about her pulmonary and critical care family and was highly regarded as an educator and mentor,” Dr. Bruno DiGiovine, the hospital’s division head for pulmonary and critical care, said in the statement.

The daughter of a doctor who grew up in Oklahoma, she was also a gifted singer who competed in the Henry Ford Campus Idol contest, a ballerina, a great cook and an accomplished dogsledder, her colleagues said. She was devoted to the rescue of Weimaraners, and once had three in her home at one time, her colleagues said.

She is survived by her mother, Flo; a brother and sister-in-law, Greg and Amber; and two nephews and one niece.

Photo via Henry Ford Medical Group