Jeep Smashes Buggy, Ejects Family Of 9 Amish (Indiana)
There were six juveniles in the buggy, and everyone was ejected when rear-ended by a Jeep. The father had to be airlifted to hospital, while five of the children went there by ambulance.
This happened late last night – around 11 PM – in the large Adams County, Indiana (Berne) Amish settlement.
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.
Not Good
Wonder if he was trying to pass the buggy? Maybe. Just to much of this going on.
Think about it
It just isn’t safe for people to travel in buggies where everyone almost everyone else drives a car! Think about it. They could also be a problem with ambulances or policemen trying to get to a wreck or other accidents. Sorry for those injured and hope they recover quickly.
amish accident
I do not feel that amish should be allowed to have open buggies like this. We have to have seat belts. they dont. we are not allowed to have anyone riding in the back of a pickup truck. what is the difference. too many accidents with amish buggies!!! they should have a damn curfew!!!!! dont run them after dark! its bad enough in the daytime.
Perhaps cars should have the curfew?
There’s no protective structure to fasten someone to with a seatbelt in a buggy (i.e. being flung clear may well be the lesser of the evils) and they go a lot slower than something like a truck. There isn’t really an equivalent, but it would seem closer to riding a bicycle or a mobility scooter.
Moreover, I think a lot of these laws about things like seatbelts and what you can and cannot have people riding in are quite questionable. They do have justifications with respect to the need to operate in ways that protect the safety of others in real social conditions, but they are liable to run into a situation where one group of people are using force and law to enforce a value-judgement about what is most important on another manifestly on the basis of it being for the person’s own good – which I would argue is not legitimate in the context of a modern society and certainly is not consistent with claims to principles of tolerance and freedom.
As for demanding a curfew on a particular type of vehicle, are the roads there for everyone in the community, or are they only there for people with a certain type of conventional lifestyle? If people want to go down that route, it could be argued that it would make more sense to forbid people to use motor vehicles – the faster and more dangerous entity – after dark so other road users are safe and can freely move about at that time, than the other way around. If car users would be outraged at such a restriction of their freedom, it’s hardly reasonable to impose it on the users of any other sort of vehicle offhand.
pathetic
maybe you shouldn’t be allowed to drive a car after dark! horses and buggies were here long before cars
Ex Amish
I agree buggies were hear long before cars and should not be forced to live a life style that is not their own
Just wondering what happened to the horse that was pulling the buggy?
Hello,
I’m so sorry for this family’s trauma and injuries. Was there any word if the horse was killed? I pray that he/she somehow survived.
Thank you!
Amish safety…
… I’ve seen Amish buggies being driven after dark without any forms of lighting driving in the dark or even an SMV farm sign on the back to warn drivers to be careful…!!!
Motor vehicles need to protect themselves by adding a V shaped snowblade on the front.
The horse's life
No word on the horse? I’m assuming killed instantly; pray he or she didn’t suffer. What a shame to use horses as slaves in this modern time.
Pray for Healing
Those Buggies are difficult to see at night, due to them being painted black. We have a large population in our area, plus a lot of simple area farmers, so we also look for farmers hauling their equipment during the night. It is nice to have them here. People take good care at making sure they are safe. Pray for full healing of this family.