Yates County, in the Finger Lakes region, has many Amish and Mennonite residents and, like our area, experiences numerous crashes involving horse and buggies versus vehicles, as was described in a “Did You Know” weekly article in September of last year. We often hear about these crashes but seldom are made aware of any arrests and/or charges.

I recently received information from the Yates County Sheriff’s Office on the disposition of a serious such crash. Yates County District Attorney Todd Casella’s office presented the case to a Yates County grand jury. The jury returned an indictment charging William Valentin, 55, from Geneva, New York. with vehicular assault in the second degree (recklessly causing serious injury by dangerous instrument — a motor vehicle crashing into the rear of a horse drawn buggy), two counts of a class D felony under Penal Law.

In the incident, described in the September DYK article, two people in a horse and buggy were rear-ended by a vehicle on state Route 14A, near Penn Yan. The buggy’s passengers were ejected in the crash and later airlifted to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester. Both victims survived but faced months of recovery. The vehicle’s driver, who was not injured, was charged at the time with failing to exercise due caution in approaching a horse and following too closely.

Follow-up investigation by sheriff’s deputies, CID investigators, sheriff’s accident investigation unit, and the Yates County District Attorney’s Office resulted in the two counts of the class D felony.

The indictment says Valentin was operating at a high rate of speed not reasonable and prudent. The motor vehicle had major front end damage and had to be towed from the scene. Both buggy and car were northbound on state Route 14A at the time of the collision and the buggy was displaying lighting and the Slow Moving Vehicle symbol while straddling the fog line when struck from the rear.

In addition to the felony charge, the grand jury returned additional charges against Valentin including criminal mischief (causing damage in access of $250 to another’s property, that being the demolishing of a horse drawn buggy vehicle unit), failure to exercise due care in approaching a horse to avoid a collision and causing injury to the horse, and following too closely, causing a rear end collision to the horse drawn buggy.

“We thank the district attorney’s office for their assistance in this serious vehicle crash. Over 85% of rear end collisions with slow moving vehicles are due to driver inattention, following too closely or reckless speed not reasonable and prudent for conditions,” said Yates County Sheriff Ron Spike. “This was a powerful crash, causing the ejection and serious injury to Ivan Horning, age 80, and to Ella Horning, age 79, his wife who live in the town of Benton, New York, and destroying their buggy and injuring their horse.”

Valentin was arraigned before Yates County Judge Jason Cook and was placed on recognizance to the pre-trial release program supervised by the probation department.