Five hurt, one serious after crash in Auburn

By The Citizen staff report

Saturday, March 21, 2009 11:43 PM EDT

Five family members riding in a van were all sent to area hospitals after a car ran a stop sign, hit the van and sent it rolling off an Auburn street Saturday, police said.
The Auburn Police Department said that a Pontiac Grand Am being driven northbound on Cross Street by a 16-year-old failed to stop at the intersection with Seymour Street at about 2 p.m. Saturday and ran into the side of a Dodge Caravan that had been eastbound on Seymour Street.

Police said that the van rolled completely over before landing upright in the yard at 173 Seymour Street home.

Police described the crash as a T-bone, or 90-degree, collision.

The front seat passenger in the van suffered a head injury and chest pains and was airlifted to University Hospital in Syracuse, where he was in serious condition Saturday night, police said.

The other four people in the van, including young children, were all transported to area hospitals for medical treatment, while the three people in the other vehicle all refused treatment, police said.

Auburn Police Department detective Kyle Platt said that the names of the people involved would not immediately be released and that officers were still investigating the accident Saturday night.

The Auburn Police Department and the Cayuga County Sheriff's Office both responded to the accident and jointly reconstructed and investigated the crash.

Police said the driver of the Pontiac was issued a ticket for failing to stop at a stop sign and that additional charges are pending.

Platt said that before police and fire department personnel arrived at the accident, private citizens had helped family members get out of the van and had removed children from their car seats. Platt said that the police department did not want to criticize people for helping, but that the public should know it would be safer to remove the entire car seat after an accident rather than remove a child from a seat. Car seats help keep children immobile and lessen the risk of exacerbating any injuries that can occur whenever an injured person is moved, Platt said.

Police request that anyone with any further information contact the Auburn Police Department at 253-3235 and ask for officer Bryant Bergentsock or call detective Kyle Platt at 255-4702.

The Citizens' Say

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There are 5 comment(s)

yvonne_m_99 wrote on Mar 22, 2009 8:14 PM:

" HELLO... Hasn't anybody ever heard of the {good sarmatain law}( Spelled wrong) You can NOT be procuted for using it. "

Farmer's Gal wrote on Mar 22, 2009 1:17 PM:

" I just completed my first-time CPR certification for adults. The first thing they taught us was to ask consent to help of any conscious victim -- to avoid lawsuits later! (With unconscious victims, consent is legally presumed).

Knowing that you will break the ribs away from the sternum if you are doing CPR correctly on an adult sure makes you stop and think a moment -- you want to be sure you will be helping save a life before you just go pumping someone's bones apart.

But cm is correct -- on the rare occasions when I was involved in helping an accident victim, I did not sit there contemplating the legal or other ramifications -- I just did what had to be done. The girl who split her chin open while ice skating -- I took the nearest bit of cloth (her hat) and pressed it to the wound to stop the bleeding -- without thinking about transmission of disease or the ruin of her hat (she was thankful and happily had no diseases!) -- for a simple for-example.

What a world where you might quite sensibly stop and consider before giving rescue breaths if you didn't just happen to have a plastic doo-hickey on hand as a disease barrier before trying to save a person's life -- yet it could be your own if you don't. [insert visual image of me shaking my head sadly here]

Even under the best circumstances, it will take 10-15 or more minutes for emergency folks to respond -- often longer (I've waited over an hour for police even when there was a gun involved (crazy neighbor discharging gun in the direction of our house who argued that it was "safe" with the officer who came out to tell him it was not legal to discharge a weapon within so many feet of a domicile, inhabited or not, much less into a hillside up which our house was located -- all he had to do was trip on the dog running around and have the barrel lift a little as the bullet discharged, and we had children, pets and property at risk) -- thank goodness there were people on hand to help out, maybe even relatives or friends of cm -- but someone who could take care of folks in that excruciatingly long time (that's how it feels even when it's only 5 minutes) before the professionals could get there. "

eleventoseven wrote on Mar 22, 2009 10:26 AM:

" Wishing everyone in this accident a speedy recovery!! Get well soon!! "

cm wrote on Mar 22, 2009 10:16 AM:

" I so understand what medics are saying yet in a crisis, many just react to help.
If it were me, I think I would have just grabbed the kids out too. I have 2 cars seats in my Van for grandkids, I dont think I would grab the whole car seat in that moment either!
also with so many models of seats, not everyone knows where the detach button is!

CUDOS to those that helped, I am pretty sure I know who you are. Call ya later today! lol "

janeenmarie wrote on Mar 22, 2009 7:22 AM:

" The family of the five who were hurt want to express their appreciation to those on the scene who were there until professional responders could get there. We also want to thank the TLC staff, Auburn police, firefighters and emergency room staff for their care, compassion and understanding as our family was cared for. Lastly we thank a special family for everything - you know who you are! May God bless you all as you have taken care of our family! "

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