Saturday, August 29, 2015

PEDESTRIAN DEATHS ARE ON THE RISE: Worker walking to his work was killed by young car driver who was reaching for a can of soda and became distracted, drifting off to the side of the road, hitting and killing the worker



Posted on August 29, 2015

by Times of Wayne County 

GALEN, NEW YORK

 

Every morning in good weather, Merced Miranda, age 58, walked from his residence at 9996 Terpening Road in the Town of Galen to work down the road at the A.N. Martin Grain Systems, a quarter mile trip. Sometimes with friends and co-workers – sometimes alone.

Merced was alone on Thursday morning at 6:01, walking northbound when he was struck from behind by a vehicle operated by Alvin Horning, age 24, of Ryder Road in Newark, also on his way to work at a nearby business.

Merced was taken by ambulance to Newark Wayne Hospital where he was pronounced dead from massive injuries.

Both Merced’s sons also work with him at A.N. Martin Grain Systems. They were out of town on a project for the company at the time of the accident and were called immediately by co-workers.

According to the Company owner, Jason Martin, Merced had been working for him since 2013, seasonally from April through December, before moving on for other seasonal jobs. Martin said Merced was sending almost his entire paycheck back to Mexico to help pay for cancer treatments for another son. According to police, Horning was reaching for a can of soda and became distracted, drifting off to the side of the road, hitting Miranda. The car received heavy front-end damage and was towed from the scene. The accident is still under investigation, but no charges are pending at this time.