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Daily Messenger, Canandaigua, N.Y.
JERUSALEM, N.Y. — Yates County sheriff’s deputies are continuing to investigate a crash Sunday that left up to seven members of a family injured, some critically, after a collision in the town of Jerusalem.
The Yates County Sheriff’s Office described it as a “mass casualty incident.”
Yates County Sheriff Ron Spike there were several critical injuries, including children as young as seven months old who were among the injured. Four emergency helicopters had to be called to the scene to airlift victims.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, it was around 5:18 p.m. when the first call came in. Upon arrival on East Sherman Hollow Road, deputies and first responders found several people near the scene with serious injuries.
A preliminary investigation revealed that a 24-year-old Penn Yan native was heading westbound along the road when he approached the buggy near the crest of a hill heading in the same direction.
While trying to pass the buggy, another vehicle was headed eastbound, leading to the westbound driver’s collision with the buggy. The buggy then left the roadway and smashed apart, sending all seven members of the family into a ditch and field.
Four helicopter flights had to be used to transport the most serious patients, which included the mother and father of the family, as well as a seven-year-old with multiple critical internal injuries and a seven-month-old baby with internal injuries. Three other young boys were transported by ambulance. All those injured were taken to Strong Memorial Hospital.
The family’s horse was also heavily injured and had to be euthanized at the scene by a veterinarian.
Spike said the driver is not in custody, but his vehicle has been impounded.
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