Accident on road

[coopermini]

News just ran a story that there was an accident 8 pm last night between a carraige pulled by 2 minis and a pickup truck. One girl died and the other is in serious condition. The man driving the carriage has a broken leg. One mini was put down. Sheriff Dept says the truck driver might have been blinded by the sun. The news footage the cart appears to have been an easy entry cart but there was not much left to it.

Info www.wgme.com

Mark

eidted: story is "Buckfield Crash"

 

[Epona Stable Belgium]

OMG this is so terrible!! I hope that the girl will survive her injury!

Let's pray all for her!

 

[Jill]

This is heart breaking

 

[SWA]

We have friends from our old mini club back when we lived up there in Maine, that live there in Buckfield. I pray it wasn't them. Her name was Cheryl & Gene, and they have a daughter named Tori. Please Lord, I hope it wasn't them.

Will lift in prayers for this family, God be with them through this.

 

[muffntuf]

This is certainly heart wrenching. Prayers and thoughts to the families of both the truck and minis!

 

[Margo_C-T]

How absolutely AWFUL!

Unfortunately, also a caution about driving on roads shared w/ cars when the sun is low in the sky and directly in line w/ the direction of the road....being 'blinded' certainly does NOT excuse a car driver, but a horse driver is put in greater danger by the very situation, sad to say. (This is not the first terrible 'wreck' I've read of with a similar scenario...)

Prayers and positive thoughts for all involved; may they all survive and be completely alright again!

Margo

 

[yankee_minis]

The 7 year old girl died. How horrible!!

Do we know who the driver/mini owners were?

I heard the girls were from the Augusta area.

 

[Genie]

Very sad.

It seems to me that trucks especially are usually going way too fast.

It's very scary on the roads these days.

Our highways are a nightmare and not to show my age.....but....it was a lot safer when the trains were running and taking the trucks off the roads.

 

[Carriage]

How heart-breaking,

This is why we are always on record as a MFR. saying "DON'T DO IT". We know folks do, but we don't want to hear about it for sure. Too many things can happen from the the mean and ornery to the freak happenstance.

This is just terrible.

Bb

 

[Maxi'sMinis]

I am so sorry to hear this.

Prayers to the family.

 

[wildoak]

Such a tragedy, my heart goes out to them. We used to ride on the road behind our old place, and as the area developed it just got to where it wasn't safe. There was a large city park there and way too many moms/dads in a hurry to get kiddos to softball games. We had to cross a narrow bridge....heaven forbid you get on the bridge and someone actually has to wait for you to get your horse across safely!

Jan

 

[Joanne]

Here is the post from the news:

The Oxford County Sheriff's Office is investigating a deadly accident on Route 117 in Buckfield. Sheriff Wayne Gallant says a carriage, being pulled by two small horses was travelling west on Route 117 when it was struck by a pick-up truck travelling in the same direction. A young girl riding in the buggy was rushed to the hospital where she later died from her injuries. Her sister was also injured, and taken to Central Maine Medical Center, where she was then life-flighted to Maine Medical Center in Portland. The driver of the buggy was also injured, but Sheriff Gallant says he believes he suffered a broken leg in the crash.

Police are still investigating, but say the driver of the pick-up truck may have had his vision impaired due to the setting sun.

The identification of those involved in the wreck have still not been released.

 

[Boinky]

this was taken from another forum here in Maine.

BUCKFIELD - A young Auburn girl was killed and a man and another girl were injured Monday night after a commercial truck rear-ended a pony-drawn cart they were riding in on Route 117.

According to Oxford County Sheriff Wayne Gallant, a 9-year-old girl died from injuries in the accident.

A 7-year-old girl was rushed to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, then flown to Maine Medical Center in Portland. The names of the girls, sisters from Auburn, were not released early Tuesday.

Philip Trundy, 64, of North Hill Road in Buckfield, was driving the cart west on Route 117 about 7:50 p.m. when the accident happened, the sheriff said.

Steve Huffman of Livermore came upon the accident before emergency personnel arrived. Huffman said he tried to perform CPR on one of the girls for about five minutes, "but I couldn't get a response," he said. "I immediately started checking on everything else - the horses and the other little girl and checked the man again. Then the EMT showed up."

Gallant said Shackford was brought to CMMC to check for injuries. "As with any accident like this, we test blood alcohol," he said, but added there was no evidence alcohol was involved.

The truck is owned by Acadia Contractors LLC, based in Turner.

Neighbors say Trundy is a familiar sight on Roundabout Road and North Hill Road, where he drives his pony-drawn cart most days at dusk. The wagon has appropriate warning signs and red lights, according to neighbors.

Buckfield Town Clerk Cindy Dunn said she knew Trundy well, and that he and his wife sell flowers on their farm on North Hill Road. "He's very well-respected," Dunn said.

Sheriff Gallant said his deputies were reconstructing the accident to determine if the driver was at fault. Gallant said the accident occurred at dusk, and noted that the sun setting on Route 117 can be blinding at that time of day.

 

[SWA]

Thanks so much for the update Boinky. I remember the Trundy farm, though I never met the family. Just remember the beautiful farm and all the beautiful flowers as we passed by on the way to visits with Cheryl and another "mini-folk" family there in Buckfield. I think their farm flower business was called something like "Roundabout Perrenials", or something like that?

My heart goes out to the family, and they remain lifted in our prayers.

 

[Carolyn R]

This is a very sad incident. I don't think there is any right or wrong about driving on the roadway in his particular situation, or if there were appropriate signs or lights on the cart or not. It could have just as easily have been a pedestrian, a mother pushing a stroller, or a bicycle rider that was struck down.

It is a very sad situation and my heart goes out to the family.

Carolyn

 

[yankee_minis]

There's a picture in the paper on the front page and the cart is mangled in the ditch. There appears to be a pinto lying there in the grass too.

 

[Keri]

So sad! How horrible for anyone to lose a life like that (and for the driver involved if it truely was the setting sun). I quit driving our roads around town becuase they are too busy. Choose to take the frontage road behind our house now since there is no traffic. I can only imagine how hard it would be trying to drive your minis on a busy road. Even if its not busy, driven by bigger commercial trucks.

Prayers go out to the family and all involved (police, emts, vets, and citizens).

 

[sedeh]

That's just heartbreaking.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the families involved.

 

[Magic]

OMG, how horrible to lose one child and the other be so terribly injured, I can't even begin to imagine the pain the family and friends are going through. Sending prayers for all....

 

[capall beag]

I feel ill

I knew this would be Phil as soon as I read minis in Buckfield.

Phil is a lovely man who is fairly new to minis. Not to horses though.

His dream was to have a 4 horse drawn mini pinto set.

He LOVED his horses and took them many places and was very involved in the community.

They were part of the towns Christmas story on stage.

I sold him a mare last year and he sends me updates and pictures often.

He named the horse Fiona, my name.

I am so, so sad!

This is beyond a tragedy.

This was his hobby in his retirement

I know he was not driving Fiona because she is ready to foal.

He was driving his other matched pair of pinto minis.

My heart aches for him and his family..no one should have to go through this.

Boy this is tragic.