Lucky, Lucky, Lucky

Today I'm writing about an accident I went to Saturday morning. The call across the scanner told of a car hitting an Amish buggy and that three people were laying on the ground and the horse was laying on the ground as well.

To be honest my first thought were of the worst case scenario as I had heard of those kinds of accidents in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, their largest Amish settlement in the country, and also in Daviess County, Indiana where a small settlement resides about an hour or so from here.

As I got close to the scene (I was working it for the local newspaper.) I saw two ambulances driving away from the scene and my thoughts grew even worse. I was a little afraid of what I was going to find. When I walked up on the scene, however, I saw some very lucky people.

Three Amish men were up walking around, talking to a county police office and an emergency medical technician. They were looking at what little was left of the buggy they had been riding in. Even the horse was standing upright tied to a tree.

A car driving east into the early morning sun had been blinded by the light and couldn't not see the buggy, estimated to be moving at about 15 mph. The car, going at 55 mph slammed into the buggy in the rear sending it and the horse flying into the air. The buggy did a 180 spin in the air and flipped upside, landing against a rock wall. The three Amish men in the buggy were all ejected onto the ground.

The injuries to the three men proved to be minor with a few cuts and bruises. Some at the scene were worried about the horse as it had a large gash in its right hind quarter. Fortunately a veternarian was quick to respond to the scene and put in some stitches and the horse was taken away in a trailer. Except for being stunned by it all it seemed to be weathering its situation fairly well. The woman in the car that hit the buggy was not injured.

I think you'd have to say that somebody was definitely watching over these three men. At one point the three came over to get a closer look at their ride and kind of just conceded that it was pretty much destroyed. At least they were still upright and I figure the story about this little ride will be talked about for many years, and kids, to come.