accident

A three-car accident with injuries is reported on the westbound Thruway at mile marker 397.7. One engine from East Pembroke Fire Department is called to the scene along with Mercy medics. Mercy Flight is on ground standby.

UPDATE 9:49 a.m.: The East Pembroke assignment is back in service.

A car has reportedly hit a building, the KFC, at 4216 W. Main Street Road, Batavia.

There are no injuries reported and only minor damage, but there is a report of fluids leaking.

Town of Batavia fire responding.

A vehicle is reportedly rolled over in a ditch in the area of Feeder Road and Klossen Road, on the Tonawanda Indian Reservation.

Unknown injuries.

Alabama fire and Mercy EMS dispatched.

UPDATE 7:47 a.m.: There were no occupants at the scene. The driver was subsequently located at a relative's house, reportedly uninjured. All units back in service.

A motor-vehicle accident with minor injuries is reported at West Main Street Road and Keeney Road, Town of Le Roy. Le Roy fire and Mercy medics are responding.

A car has reportedly hit a deer on Richmond Avenue, in front of the New York School School for the Blind.

The only injury reported is cuts from glass.

City fire and Mercy EMS responding.

A pickup truck struck a pole near 6481 North Bergen Road, Byron, and it knocked the pole down. The driver is out of the vehicle and claiming no injuries. Wires are down and the accident is blocking traffic. Byron and South Byron fire departments are responding.

"National Grid will need a crew out here," says a first responder to dispatch.

Traffic will be stopped at the intersection of Route 237 and at Bird Road. National Grid has been notified.

UPDATE 1:01 p.m.: The Byron assignment is back in service.

The identity of the victim in a Sept. 22 motorcycle accident on the westbound Thruway during rush hour was just released by State Police.

Judith A. Drook, 76, of Marion, Ind., succumbed to injuries sustained in the accident after she was transported by Mercy Flight to Erie County Medical Center.

The driver of the motorcycle is identified as Lance C. Warner, 74, of Sandusky, Ohio. He was transported to ECMC by Mercy Medics in an ambulance.

The investigator said this morning the accident is still under investigation. He said Warner applied the brakes, then lost control of the motorcycle for unknown reasons.

The accident occurred around 5 p.m. Thursday in the area of mile marker 394.9 and traffic on the Thruway was shut down to land the helicopter. East Pembroke Fire Department responded along with Mercy EMS. Town of Batavia Fire Department set up the landing zone.

A hit-and-run accident involving a black Jeep is reported on Dellinger Avenue.

The suspect vehicle was last seen northbound on Dellinger, turning right on Washington Avenue.

The vehicle reportedly sustained damage and is leaking fluid and has two children passengers. A partial plate was provided as well.

Police are responding and looking for the vehicle.

A two-car accident is reported at Ellicott Street and Court Street, Batavia.

Unknown injuries.

City fire and Mercy EMS responding.

A minor-injury accident involving two vehicles is reported at the intersection of routes 33 and 237 in Stafford. Stafford Fire Department and Mercy medics are responding.

UPDATE 11:05 a.m.: No injuries, says a medic on scene. Both vehicles off the roadway, one will need to be towed because "the back tires are pushed in," says another first responder.

A single-car accident is reported on Clinton Street Road across from College View Drive, across from the entrance of Terry Hills.

One male occupant is injured.

Town of Batavia fire and Mercy EMS dispatched.

A motorcyclist reportedly fell off of his bike in the westbound lane of the Thruway in the area of mile marker 394.9.

East Pembroke fire and Mercy EMS responding.

Mercy Flight out of Batavia on ground standby.

UPDATE 5:13 p.m.: Town of Batavia fire requested to the scene for a possible landing zone.

UPDATE 5:22 p.m.: Fire police are going to shut the westbound Thruway down to accommodate Mercy Flight #7, which is called to the scene. Mercy medics are called also.

UPDATE 6:02 p.m.: Town of Batavia is back in service. Two patients are being transported by Mercy EMS to UMMC.

A car vs. pedestrian accident with injuries is reported in the area of 1600 Erie St. in Darien. The location is between Tinkham Road and Route 77. Darien fire and ambulance are called to respond.

UPDATE 8:02 p.m.: Darien Ambulance Service is at Erie County Medical Center with one patient.

An accident with injuries and possible entrapment is reported on South Lake Road (Route 19) and Maple Avenue, Bergen.

Bergen fire and Mercy EMS dispatched.

UPDATE(S) (By Billie) 8:44 a.m.: Mercy Flight in Batavia is on ground standby. Two vehicles and three people involved. One male in a truck is unresponsive, hunched over the wheel, and having difficulty breathing. He is the most seriously injured. Another male has facial cuts and abrasions. Another subject has no apparent injuries.

UPDATE 8:51 a.m.: Le Roy fire rescue is called to provide mutual aid to Bergen. Mercy Flight is summoned along with additional fire police. The landing zone will be the church parking lot across from just south of the accident site.

UPDATE 8:58 a.m.: Route 19 is to be shut down "completely."

UPDATE 9:02 a.m.: Mercy Flight has an ETA of less than a minute.

UPDATE 9:23 a.m.: Mercy Flight is airborne and headed to Strong Memorial Hospital.

UPDATE 9:40 a.m.: A pickup truck was eastbound on Maple Avenue when the driver apparently blew through a stop sign and was T-boned by a small plumbing company van traveling on Route 19. Both vehicles left the roadway as a result of the collision and the pickup truck struck a large tree in the front yard of a residence. A car occupied by a doctor, a nurse and possibly a combat medic happened to be driving by in the immediate aftermath. The car stopped and the occupants provided emergency medical aid until first responders arrived. The pickup truck driver was deemed in serious condition at the time he was airlifted to Strong. A first responder said if he makes it, he'll have the medical assistance provided by the passersby largely to thank for it. The driver and passenger in the plumbing van were taken to Strong by ground ambulance with minor injuries; in fact, the driver was walking around at the scene.

UPDATE 9:57 a.m.: One lane is open on Route 19 and fire police are alternating the traffic flow.

Peggy Zambito felt blessed that she, her daughter and her two young grandchildren walked away without any serious injuries from an accident on Transit Road in Elba a week ago.

This evening, she said she felt a sense of closure now that a person has been located, arrested and charged in the terrifying accident.

Jose Francisco Ortega-Hernandez, 46, of Transit Road, Elba, has been charged with: aggravated unlicensed operation, 2nd; leaving the scene of a property damage accident; no insurance; unsecured license plate; uninspected motor vehicle; unregistered motor vehicle; failure to yield at a stop sign; inadequate brakes, and failure to report a motor-vehicle accident with more than $1,000 in damage.

Following his arrest today, he was arraigned in Town of Batavia court and jailed on $2,500 bail.

He is also being held on an immigration warrant for past driving offenses.

According to accounts Zambito shared exclusively with The Batavian earlier this week, she was a passenger in a vehicle driven by her daughter Mercy Caparco, and her two grandchildren, Maggie, 5, and Molly, 2, when they saw a red SUV flying toward the North Byron and Transit Road intersection. There was no way to avoid the vehicle, Zambito said, and, she said, the other driver couldn't have stopped in time, even if he had tried.

The SUV slammed broadside into the Ford Explorer the family was in and caused it to roll over several times.

It was only by the grace of God and the safety features of the Explorer that the two women and two children walked away without any serious injuries, Zambito said. 

She hoped that publication of the story and photos from the accident would help lead to the arrest of the suspect.

The Sheriff's Office press release does not state how the suspect was located.

ICE Supervisory of Deportation Officer A. Castro assisted the Sheriff's Office in the investigation.

Somebody knows who was driving this vehicle at 10:40 a.m., Saturday, when it T-boned a car with two small children in it at the intersection of North Byron Road and Transit Road, Elba.

The driver fled the scene and the vehicle was found in a wooded area the next day off of Spoil Bank Road, in the mucklands.

The car had Ohio plates that didn't match the VIN number. There were receipts for Verizon calling plans in the vehicle.

Peggy Zambito, the grandmother of the two children, said her family is offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the driver.

It's a miracle and only through the grace of God, she said, that she, her daughter, Mercy Caparco, and her two grandchildren, Maggie, 5, and Molly, 2, were uninjured in the accident.

The Ford Explorer Caparco was driving rolled over multiple times and narrowly missed hitting a fire hydrant and a tree.

The other driver, Zambito said, was speeding and though they saw him coming, couldn't avoid getting hit.

"I knew he was going so fast he wouldn’t have been able to stop if he tried," Zambito said.

Zambito said the safety features of the vehicle -- strong seatbelts and side airbags -- helped keep them all safe.

"I will always be haunted by the face of my daughter looking, craning her neck as we're rolling over to look (at her children)," Zambito said. "She said, 'Mom, I don't see blood. I don't see blood.' That will haunt me to my dying day."

She was able to find her mobile phone and call 9-1-1 as soon as the car stopped rolling over.

"I'm a retired nurse," she said. "I tend to stay calm in an emergency and then fall apart later."

The rear axle with a tire attached snapped off and landed 30 feet from the vehicle.

"It's a miracle we were able to just get out of that vehicle," she said.

Incredibly, the insurance company originally said it wouldn't total the car, but only pay for repairs, but then later today, Zambito said, she got word the decision was being reconsidered by another department.

Zambito realizes the red SUV that struck them may have been driven by a migrant worker, perhaps undocumented, which is why he fled, but she also realizes, she said, most migrant workers are decent, hard-working and family oriented. Perhaps if this story makes the rounds or a worker sees the posters the family plans to post at the Yellow Goose in Elba, somebody will come forward and identify the driver.

Apparently, one person did tell a deputy who he thinks usually drives the vehicle, but that person has witnesses who say he was at work at the time of the accident, Zambito said.

Alan J. Hargrave, of Pavilion, died this morning about 20 minutes after arriving at UMMC following an accident reported at 9:47 a.m. on Angling Road, Corfu.

Hargrave and his brother, John S. Hargrave, had just dropped off a load of scrap at Ed Arnold Scrap Processors and were heading south when Alan suffered some sort of medical issue that caused him to lose control of the vehicle.

The truck, which was hauling an empty flatbed trailer, struck a tree.

Alan Hargrave was unconscious and not breathing when Deputy Lonnie Nati first arrived on scene.

Nati and Don Newton, chief of the East Pembroke Volunteer Fire Department, extricated Hargrave from the vehicle and began CPR and deployed a defibrillator and Alan Hargrave began breathing.

He was placed in a Mercy EMS ambulance for further emergency treatment before being transported to UMMC.

Coroner Karen Lang was requested to respond to UMMC, where she pronounced that Alan Hargrave had died.

John Hargrave, who suffered cuts and abrasions in the accident, was transported to ECMC for evaluation.

The accident is being investigated by the Sheriff's Office. Corfu fire and East Pembroke fire and Indian Falls fire assisted at the scene.

A three-car accident with injuries is reported at Ellicott and Evans streets. City fire and Mercy medics are responding.

UPDATE 12:01 p.m.: The only injury may be to a child who was shaken up by the collision and is being evaluated by medics.

A serious injury accident is reported in the area of 2164 Angling Road, Corfu.

A victim is trapped in the vehicle.

Corfu fire and Mercy EMS dispatched.

The accident is reported as car vs. tree.

UPDATE(S) 9:56 a.m. (By Billie): Mercy Flight is called to the scene and a landing zone is to be set up just east of the location, possibly in the roadway.

UPDATE 10 a.m.: Traffic is to be shut down at Route 33 and Angling Road.

UPDATE 10:01 a.m.: The helicopter will land on property next to a barn, off the roadway.

UPDATE 10:02 a.m.: Mercy Flight has an 8 minute ETA.

UPDATE 10:06 a.m.: The address given now is 2176 Angling Road. A second Mercy ambulance is called in non-emergency mode for a subject with lacerations.

UPDATE 10:21 a.m.: Mercy Flight was canceled. A 56-year-old male will be taken by ambulance to UMMC after suffering a heart attack. Another is being treated at the scene for cuts and abrasions. A source at the scene says two brothers had just finished taking a load of scrap metal to a processing company when the driver seemed to suffer some sort of medical condition and appeared to faint, which caused the truck to veer into a tree head on.

UPDATE 10:28 a.m.: The ambulance, in which medics have been treating the patient, is now leaving the scene for UMMC.

A collision between a bus and a motor vehicle is reported at Oak Street and Richmond Avenue. A first responder on scene confirms minor injuries. The bus was occupied by a driver and one passenger. The vehicle had two one occupants. City fire and Mercy medics are responding.

UPDATE 1:45 p.m.: The driver of a red car is being evaluated by medics following the collision. Law enforcement says it appears the driver rear-ended the bus, whose driver and single passenger were uninjured. The car driver is being cited for driving while intoxicated.