Fleming, NY -- A 73-year-old Moravia woman was killed Wednesday afternoon when a bus carrying passengers with special needs was struck by a car and overturned. Cayuga County Sheriff David Gould said the accident happened around 3:45 p.m. on Route 34 in the town of Fleming, about five miles south of the city of Auburn. Fifteen people were aboard the...
Fleming, NY -- A 73-year-old Moravia woman was killed Wednesday afternoon when a bus carrying passengers with special needs was struck by a car and overturned.
Cayuga County Sheriff David Gould said the accident happened around 3:45 p.m. on Route 34 in the town of Fleming, about five miles south of the city of Auburn.
Fifteen people were aboard the Seneca Cayuga ARC bus, which was traveling south when it was hit by a vehicle coming from the opposite direction that crossed the center line.
Police said the bus was struck by a 1997 Chevrolet driven by Robert Lindgren, 61, of Elmira.
Gould said the bus went off the east shoulder of the road and overturned.
Bus passenger Bette Terpening, 73, of Moravia, was killed in the accident. Four passengers were transported to Upstate University Hospital – three by helicopter – and 11 people were transported to Auburn Memorial Hospital, including the driver of the car involved in the crash.
Gould said deputies are at both hospitals doing interviews and on the scene working on accident reconstruction. No charges have been filed in the crash.
Terpening, who suffered from epilepsy and used a wheelchair, had lived at Howd Nursing Home in Moravia for a number of years, said her sister, Shirley Lamphere of Auburn. Terpening grew up on a small farm in Cato, Lamphere said.
Lamphere said a bus transported her sister to and from the ARC in Auburn five days a week for activities and fellowship with others with disabilities. "She looked forward to that," Lamphere said. "She loved going there daily."
Seneca Cayuga ARC Executive Director Kevin Smith said the bus was transporting clients who had participated in a variety of activities and therapies at the agency’s headquarters in Auburn.
Some passengers had taken part in the agency’s summer camp, while others received dayhabilitation services. Others were part of a work program that places individuals with disabilities.
The passengers ranged in age from late 80s to early 20s.
Smith spent much of the night in the emergency room at Auburn Memorial Hospital, comforting crash victims and contacting family members. “It is a sad day,” Smith said. “We just want to make sure our people and their families are getting the services they need.”