Via WMTV:

LAFAYETTE COUNTY, Wis. (WMTV) – A Gratoit man has died following he and his son were thrown from their Amish buggy when it was struck from behind by a pickup truck.

According to the Lafayette Co. Sheriff’s Office, Elmer Stoltzfus, 22, passed away shortly after 9:00 a.m. His toddler son also suffered serious injuries in the crash, which happened around 7:15 p.m. Thursday on State Highway 11, in Gratoit Township, Sheriff Reg Hill stated.

Deputies who responded to the scene found that an Amish buggy being pulled by a single horse was heading west and preparing to take a left when it was hit from behind by a pickup truck, investigators said.

Stolzfus and his 2-year-old son inside the buggy were ejected and suffered significant injuries. Both were taken to a hospital in Lafayette County, but then Medflight took the father to University Hospital in Madison.

The driver of the truck, identified as 50-year-old Terry Gensler, was not injured. Gensler was arrested by deputies for Operating a Motor Vehicle While Intoxicated Causing Injury and was booked and released from jail Thursday night.

In the initial report, the two victims were described as significantly injured. Not long after, this report came out that Elmer Stoltzfus had succumbed to his injuries.

This report states that the father was Medflighted to a larger hospital, with the implication that the boy was not. That might be taken to suggest that the boy’s injuries were not as severe. That’s only my hopeful speculation. However, the earlier report confusingly states they were both taken to UW hospital.

I can more confidently speculate that there will be an upgrade of the original charges against Gensler.

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