Nine Months Later, Man Charged with Homicide in Christmas Day DUI Buggy Crash (Wisconsin)

Christmas Day, 2024. Amish couple Henry and Ruth Bontrager, both aged 29, were out in their buggy around 6pm in the sizeable Amish community at Hillsboro, Wisconsin (Vernon County).

Perhaps they had been out visiting family, and were on the way home, or to another relative’s place. Visiting family on the holidays is a popular activity for the Amish.

At that moment, an intoxicated 20-year-old named Jaydon Shea was heading their way, behind the wheel of a Chevrolet Cruze. Riding with him was a 22-year-old female passenger.

When Shea’s vehicle struck the Bontragers’ buggy, head-on, both Henry and Ruth were ejected onto the road. The car continued on down an embankment before coming to a stop.

In the road Henry lay dying, or perhaps already dead. Several local citizens reportedly stopped to try to provide aid to the victims. Ruth was taken to a local hospital, and survived.

Police found beer cans and wine bottles in the car. When asked by police how much he had had to drink, Shea replied “too much”. His blood alcohol level was registered at .103%.

Charges Come Down

Now, over nine months later (reported early October), charges have come down. Shea faces six felonies for the incident that day, including homicide. More from WEAU:

According to the criminal complaint, Jaydon Shea of La Farge is charged with homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle while having a prior intoxicant-related conviction, injury by intoxicated use of a vehicle, and several other crimes.

The complaint shows Shea’s passenger originally tried to take the blame by saying she was the driver but DNA evidence found the blood on the driver’s side airbags to be Shea’s-not hers- and vice versa on the passenger side airbags.

So the passenger originally tried to take the blame (something we’ve seen before). I haven’t seen that she’s been charged with anything. And you will note this isn’t Shea’s first charge of driving while intoxicated, having already been convicted once.

Bad decision-making in a heavily-Amish county

Vernon County is a heavily-Amish-populated county with thousands of Amish residents, spread across five separate communities.

Even leaving the intoxicated driving aspect aside, locals know there are Amish out on the roads and (should) understand the realities of driving in their county.

So I can’t fathom the decision-making process here. Even if you don’t care about breaking the law, it’s just not worth the risk.

But I guess the problem is that being intoxicated often leads to bad decision-making. On the potential punishment, via WXOW:

Shea faces significant penalties if convicted, including fines and imprisonment. The charges include revocation of his operating privileges for up to five years and mandatory alcohol and drug assessments

Five year of a revoked license seems short. This is another case of someone who simply shouldn’t have been behind the wheel, and a young Amish man paid for it with his life.

The Amish way

The Amish are not a monolithic body, and individuals are individuals. But the “Amish way” of things is not to wish ill upon those who do them wrong.

They are known for their capacity for, and practice of, forgiveness. But that doesn’t mean they don’t suffer pain, or all the regular human emotions that you’d expect in something like this.

With that said, however this plays out hopefully Shea and his passenger make whatever amends they can, and use their time in future for better ends.

And for anyone who considers drinking and driving, hopefully this story encourages them not to do so, whether they live in an area populated by the Amish or not.

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