Amish Bicyclist Killed In Indiana; Driver Was “On His Cellphone” (UPDATED)
It’s been a bad few days for Amish on the road in northern Indiana. Last night, an Amish husband and wife were killed when their buggy was rear-ended.
Prior to that, reports had come out of a bicyclist killed on Friday in the Goshen, Indiana area.
It turns out that the victim in that case was a 52-year-old Amish man. From the Elkhart Truth:
GOSHEN — A 52-year-old Goshen man has died following a collision with a pickup truck east of Goshen, the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office said.
Daniel Luke Fisher died at South Bend Memorial Hospital on the afternoon after the crash, the report said.
Deputies were called at 2:28 p.m. Friday to a serious injury crash at C.R. 34 west of C.R. 37.
The driver admitted to being on his phone:
A Dodge Ram 1500 driven by Kyle Dean Eash, 19, of Shipshewana, was traveling west when it hit the bicycle, also in the westbound lane, police said. The driver of the pickup told investigators he was on his cellphone and may have been distracted when the crash occurred.
I’ll note what some people will have noticed – that the driver’s last name is Eash, which is a name seen among the Amish (sometimes spelled “Esh” or “Esch”).
It’s not uncommon that Amish people that age drive cars in the northern Indiana community. But again – at this point I don’t know if this is a young Amish person or not, though I’m sure it’s known out there.
The northern Indiana Amish community (Elkhart-LaGrange, but also nearby Nappanee) is one of the bigger “Amish bicyclist” communities. Amish people bike to get around there – a lot.
In any case, just completely tragic. Compounded by the fact it may have been avoidable by putting down the phone. The latest I’ve seen is that there is no word whether the driver will be charged.
More on Daniel Luke Fisher:
Fisher, a woodworker for Fusion Design and a member of the Old Order Amish Church, leaves behind a wife, Lori Ann Schwartz, his mother, Lydia Fisher of Franklin County, Pennsylvania, seven brothers, and many nieces and nephews, according to his obituary.
His funeral was planned for this morning (Tuesday). Condolences and prayers for his wife and family.
Update: More on Daniel
I did not realize this, but Daniel Fisher has been featured on this site before. Linda writes to bring to my attention that Daniel was the founder of the Pinecraft Pauper, a now-defunct, local newspaper for the Pinecraft, Florida community.
In 2010, Daniel shared some samples of the Pinecraft Pauper with Amish America, which you can view here.
Richard Stevick wrote a profile of Daniel as well, which you can read here. An excerpt:
The recurring challenge of providing an engaging and informative paper twice a month energizes Daniel. As his self-imposed deadline appears, he deals with the pressure by working harder and smarter. His dream is to provide a forum for all kinds of writers and interests that surface in Pinecraft, and elsewhere.
Although he has never taught school, he is in many ways a born teacher who, incidentally, has produced carefully constructed curriculum for Amish teachers. As part of his mission, he announced and introduced a writers’ workshop for potential and budding writers this past January. Afterwards, Daniel concluded, “Such an event attracts people who share common interests, people who we had not known had a passion for writing.” Daniel is constantly watching for potential writers who will pick up the pen or keyboard and write something for the Pauper.
In terms of the logistics of actually producing a paper every two weeks, Daniel was elated to find an accomplice in someone I will call Leon Hostetler, a twenty-something from Northern Indiana. He provides the technical expertise to transform the scrawls, typing, and rough manuscripts into a carefully formatted and very readable final product. They still run off each copy on their own printer, and until they found a source of inexpensive printer cartridges, they were paying as much as sixty cents per copy. Now they have pared those costs to a reasonable amount.
When enthusiastic friends urge Daniel to advertise more widely and expand his readership, he simply replies, “At this stage, I am perfectly happy with the way things are going. In fact, I can be contented with an intimate little circle of readers. Anyway, the best advertising is by word of mouth. Besides, I never intended this to be a money-making endeavor. I want to give people a place where their creativity and voice can be expressed.”
The Pinecraft Pauper both reflects and expresses Daniel’s personal interests and creativity. For as long as he remembers, he has been intrigued with language, words, grammar, ideas, and writing. Not surprisingly, he is a more-than-avid reader, and his interests span a wide spectrum from Mark Twain, Herman Melville (hence Moby Dick), dental, medical, and health issues, liberal politics (He’s a tenacious critic), and art and the Old Masters.
One of my favorite experiences is to accompany him through the Ringling Art Museum on their free-admission Mondays, observing the paintings and sculptures through the eyes of an artist (His eye revels in light, detail, and color, and he produces paintings that leave me in awe.) Incidentally, my best trip ever to New York City occurred last December when I accompanied Daniel and two of his nephews to “do New York.” He had prepared well for us to have a fascinating field trip.
I understand that Daniel did go on to be a schoolteacher in Indiana. So sorry about this loss.
Ok. 1. A long jail sentence for this driver should be mandatory. 2. When released from prison, never be allowed to drive again. The drivers license should permanently be denied to this individual.
Enough is enough.
Amish Bicyclist Killed
J.O.B. I couldn’t agree with you more. And for the driver to say that he “may have been distracted.” Um, do ya think?? Another avoidable tragedy no matter how you look at it. Hope they lock him up for a long time to come. PS. Wasn’t it Sigmund Freud who said that . . . “ There’s no such thing as an accident . . Only an act of stupidity.” ?? Just saying.