Driver of Passing Car Charged in Deaths of 5 Amish Farmers

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

A 42-year-old man has been charged with five felony counts of criminally negligent homicide for his role in a crash along a rural stretch of road in the Finger Lakes region of New York that killed five Amish farmers, a law enforcement official said Wednesday.

The man, Steven Eldridge, of Penn Yan, N.Y., a town not far from the scene of the Tuesday crash, was also charged with driving while intoxicated.

He was trying to pass a farm tractor on a curve and sideswiped a van carrying 13 Amish farmers, sending the van across the road where it collided with the tractor, Sheriff Ronald G. Spike of Yates County said. The crash, in a no-passing zone, also injured 10 other people, the police said.

The town where the crash occurred, Benton, is roughly 40 miles southeast of Rochester, and dominated by large soybean fields.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/21/nyregion/driver-of-passing-car-charged-in-deaths-of-5-amish-farmers.html

[redwitch]

1. Please don't try to pass farm equipment folks.

Drunk or sober it's a bad idea. I live in a rural area and get stuck behind tractors now and then. Generally they are not going far so if you are patient for a mile or two the road will be yours again soon enough. You won't be saving much time anyway so why risk lives?

That area of the finger lakes is really wonderful and I love seeing the Amish horse and buggies out and about.

[secondwind]

2. very sorry to hear about these needless deaths. I once stopped to allow a beagle

to cross the road, and a car came from out of nowhere on my left and almost killed the poor lost dog. People are very inconsiderate and impatient.


My heart goes out to the families of these farmers.

[RamboLiberal]

5. I had that happen with a pedestrian - I stopped at a crosswalk

Which is the damn law and some idiot swerved around me on the right. Glad the person wasn't hit.

I've driven a lot of rural roads in PA and you just gotta be patient to hit a good level stretch with a good view of oncoming traffic to pass.

[christx30]

10. I was about to cross a busy

road at the cross walk when a guy going about 45 in a 35 ran the red light. I had to step back to avoid being hit. Luckily, there was a cop waiting to turn left on the road that intersected the 45 mph road. Lights went on, cop went after the car that almost hit me, and I continued on my way to work.
I'm a very cautious driver. I never even run yellow lights. Drives me wife crazy.

[bitchkitty]

11. Almost? the little guy turned out okay?

I have a beagle and love the breed, so I'm hoping you say yes...

[murielm99]

3. Usually, if it is safe to pass, and the farmer is going

some distance, he will wave you around him.

I am always courteous. They are my neighbors.

[redwitch]

4. Exactly.

There have been some rather horrific accidents in the 20 years I have lived here because someone sideswiped farm equipment. Lots of the machinery has very little protection for the operator so I hang back. If they are able to move far to the side of the road and wave you on it is ok to do so, cautiously. They are our neighbors. And they feed us!

[ejpoeta]

8. definitely! i don't pass farm equipment unless i have a CLEAR line of sight far ahead

and am confident i can get around cleanly. usually they will move far over to let you by as soon as they are able. some of those things are quite wide. it's not like they purposely take up the whole road to keep you behind them. some think that is the case. god forbid you give yourself enough time to get where you are going without having to rush at 80 mph!! people drive like idiots all the time. I live in the country and we have farm equipment all the time. i have family that complain about the farm equipment all the time. HELLO!! we live in the country.... there are farms here. they have to get to their crops. grr!!! ok i am done venting.

[TheWraith]

6. Damn, I used to drive through there twice a week.

I always saw lots of Amish folks along the sides of the road; it's a major hub for them.

[Liberalynn]

7. They said on the Rochester local news tonight

that the driver has had some problems with the law before. He swallowed cocaine as police were trying to arrest him on a past charge, and he sideswiped a police car in yet another incident. They are waiting for more tox reports to see if additional charges will be filed.

I feel so sorry for the people who lost their lives and the famiy members they leave behind.

[Liberalynn]

9. Correction

I said in my earlier post that he was accused in a prior incident of sideswiping a police car. In actuality he was accused of "stealing" a police car.

[boppers]

12. Horrible. Just horrible.

"Gary Wright, a horse-farm owner from Caro, Mich., drove 11 hours to bring six Amish men and women to the hilltop home of the elder, a cabinetmaker named Melvin Hershberger Sr., whose son, Melvin Jr., died in the crash. Mr. Wright said he had befriended one of the Amish men he drove, when, about five years ago, his barn burned down. The man, Mr. Wright recalled, showed up at his door, saying, “I’d like to help you build your barn.”"

[No Elephants]

13. Awww, this stinks.

[LibertyLover]

14. The route I walk to work from the Metro station isn't very far, but

there are two intersections with signs regarding right turns on red being prohibited during certain hours. Almost every day some driver decides that his need to get somewhere trumps the law and tries to make a right on red during one of the prohibited times, usually through a bunch of pedestrians. This morning however there was the proverbial little old lady with a cane crossing and damned if she didn't up and whack the car's bumper as it tried to run her over to make a turn. The driver rolled down his window and began to scream obscenities at her. She thumped the bumper again and pointed the cane at the large sign and yelled back at him that if he couldn't read he needed to learn or to get glasses. The driver settled down to a simmering glower and the little old lady proceeded to the island in the middle of the road to smiles and head-noddings from the rest of us pedestrians who were in awe of her.