There were six juveniles in the buggy, and
This happened late last night – around 11 PM – in the large
From WZBD:
BERNE – A late-night collision between a Jeep and an Amish buggy on State Road 218 near County Road 000 left multiple people injured and prompted a large-scale emergency response.
At approximately 11:20 p.m. on October 7th, deputies from the Adams County Sheriff’s Office, along with personnel from multiple emergency services, were dispatched to the scene of a serious traffic accident involving a motor vehicle and a horse-drawn buggy.
Upon arrival, responders found a black Jeep in a roadside ditch and an Amish buggy in pieces scattered across the roadway. Several individuals were injured, including seven juveniles among the buggy’s nine occupants.
About the victims:
The buggy’s driver, 32-year-old Ruben L.M. Schwartz of Berne, was airlifted to Lutheran Hospital. Joseph L.M. Schwartz, 20, and five juvenile passengers were transported by ambulance to Parkview Hospital. Two other passengers, Saraetta L. Schwartz, 32, and her 2-year-old son, declined medical treatment and were released at the scene.
The article says there were seven juveniles, but I’m only seeing six. There is a 20-year-old, but that age is not considered juvenile in Indiana, or anywhere else that I’m aware of.
It sounds like it was – unsurprisingly – a bad scene:
The response included Adams County EMS, Berne and Geneva Police Departments, Berne Fire Department, Wells and Jay County EMS, Indiana State Police, and Lutheran Hospital’s Flight Team.
Officials described the scene as chaotic, with responders working “frantically to provide medical treatment.”
You’ll notice this is an open buggy, which is the common (though no longer universal) style used in this Swiss Amish community.
This is not something nice to think about, but I sometimes wonder if being in an open buggy might be better for a person when they are ejected. There is less in the way for their body to hit when being thrown out.
As for the driver, he was ID’ed as 33-year-old Bradley J. Ocilka of Burlington, Kentucky. He declined medical attention both at the scene and at the hospital, where he was taken “for a legal blood draw”.
Burlington is in the Cincinnati area, so he was a ways from home. Perhaps as a visitor, or perhaps he had moved into the area. I draw attention to this because most car-buggy wrecks involve local residents, but not always.
No charges have been filed at the time of the report. The incident remains under investigation. This family has tough sledding ahead. I hope that the hospitalized fully recover.