Chloe Calhoun, in the center, with her Auburn softball team mates. Calhoun died on Wednesday, July 27, 2016, when a driver struck her car on Route 38A in Owasco, NY. (Charley Hannagan|channagan@syrac)
By Tim Knauss | tknauss@syracuse.com
updated July 29, 2016 at 8:01 PM
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A 33-year-old Auburn man with a history of drunk driving was arraigned in the hospital today on felony DWI charges in connection with a car crash that killed an 18-year-old girl Wednesday.
Dain R. Schneider, of 6977 Owasco Road, Auburn, was arraigned this afternoon at Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse by Cayuga County Court Judge Thomas Leone. Schneider was arraigned on three charges related to a fatal accident in which his truck slammed into an SUV in the town of Owasco.
Chloe Calhoun, 18, of Auburn, the driver of the other car, was killed in the crash.
Additional charges against Schneider are possible depending on the outcome of the crash investigation, said Jon Budelmann, Cayuga County district attorney.
Schneider's felony DWI charge was based on previous DWI conviction in December 2011 in Marcellus, authorities said. He was also charged with first-degree aggravated unlicensed operation, a felony, because his license remains revoked for the 2011 conviction.
The third charge against Schneider was for operating a motor vehicle without an ignition interlock device. He is subject to an ignition interlock order as part of his 2011 sentence. Schneider was operating a 2013 Chevrolet Avalanche he did not own when the accident occurred, according to the Cayuga County Sheriff's Office.
Bail was set at $50,000 cash or $100,000 bond.
Schneider is being guarded at the hospital by the Cayuga County Sheriff's Department. He is being treated for injuries sustained in the accident. Upon discharge from the hospital, Dain will be taken to jail, authorities said.
Budelmann said authorities will consider additional charges against Schneider, depending on the outcome of the crash investigation. "That's certainly possible,'' he said.
The accident occurred at 9:41 p.m. Wednesday near the Tom Thumb Drive In, 6143 E. Lake Road, Owasco. Calhoun had just pulled out of the parking lot onto East Lake Road when her 2005 Ford Escape was struck from behind by Schneider's vehicle, according to the Cayuga County Sheriff's Department.
Calhoun, an 18-year-old graduate of Auburn High School, was severely injured in the crash and died later at a hospital.
Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call the sheriff's department criminal investigation division at 315-253-3545 or email tips@cayugacounty.us.
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Fatal Owasco crash: Teen rushes to wreckage, finds victim is her long-time friend
Chloe Calhoun, in the center smiling, poses with her Auburn Softball teammates. Calhoun died on Wednesday, July 27, 2016, when a driver struck her car on Route 38A in Owasco, NY. (Provided photo)
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By Charley Hannagan | channagan@syracuse.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on July 28, 2016 at 4:13 PM, updated July 28, 2016 at 5:31 PM
Owasco, NY – Sydney Wilson heard a loud bang minutes after her mother dropped her off Wednesday night at the Tom Thumb Drive In, an ice cream stand in Owasco where she works.
Fearing that her mother's car had been in a crash, the 17-year-old, soon-to-be high school senior bolted out of the shop where she was supposed to attend a staff meeting.
She ran with others to one of the vehicles. It was tipped on its side and a young woman was hanging by a seat belt, Wilson said. She helped another woman pull the young woman from the car, she said.
It was only later when someone said the victim's name that Wilson learned it was Chloe Calhoun, an 18-year-old graduate of Auburn High School, and one of her childhood friends.
"I didn't even recognize it was her," Wilson said.
18 year old dies after her car is hit from behind in 2-car crash in Cayuga County
Deputies are looking for anyone who witnessed the accident.
Calhoun, who had met co-workers at the drive-in for ice cream, drove out of the parking lot at 6143 E. Lake Road at 9:41 p.m., said Lt. Michael Wellauer, of the Cayuga County Sheriff's Office.
Calhoun had just pulled out when her 2005 Ford Escape was struck from behind by a 2013 Chevrolet Avalanche driven by Dain R. Schneider, 33, of Owasco, who was driving north on East Lake Road, Wellauer said.
Schneider was being treated Thursday afternoon at Upstate University Hospital, he said. Detectives are continuing their investigation of the crash, Wellauer said.
The speed limit is 55 mph on East Lake Road, a two-lane road also known as Route 38A. Wellauer said that area has been the scene of several crashes, some fatal, over the two decades that he has been in the sheriff's department.
Chloe E. Calhoun, 18, of Auburn, was killed Wednesday night on East Lake Road in Owasco after another vehicle struck her SUV from behind near Tom Thumb Drive In.Charley Hannagan|channagan@syracuse.com Calhoun was wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident, Wellauer said. She was rushed to Auburn Community Hospital in Auburn and later airlifted to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse, where she died, he said.
Wilson, who is a student at Auburn High School, said she was 10 years old when she met Calhoun. They were teammates on a girl's softball team.
"She was awesome. Her smile, her laugh it was contagious," Wilson said.
At Auburn High School, Calhoun wasn't one to follow the crowd, Wilson said. "She loved everyone," her friend said. A photo on Calhoun's Facebook page shows her as the school's homecoming queen.
Calhoun played softball, quickly earning a spot on the varsity team. She played basketball and field hockey too, Wilson said.
Wilson called field hockey "boring" but, Chloe's infectious personality "made the sport exciting," she said.
Calhoun was as much a light in her family as she was to her friends, said her great-grandmother Dorothy Calhoun, who lives in Utica.
"She was the shining star of our family," Dorothy Calhoun said. Her son John Calhoun is Chloe's grandfather, she said.
"She just was an all-around wonderful girl. Never gave her mother any problems at all," her great-grandmother said.
Chloe Calhoun worked at Wendy's to earn a little cash, Dorothy Calhoun said. She loved playing softball and had won several awards for it, her great-grandmother said. Her great-granddaughter was to begin Utica College in the fall and was hopeful that the coach would put her on the team, she said.
"I was so looking forward to her being in Utica," Dorothy Calhoun said. "I was looking forward to her being here for Sunday dinners and shopping."
Dorothy Calhoun said she last saw her great-granddaughter when she and her mother stopped by after a visit to the college. As she left, Chloe turned to her great-grandmother.
"You're going to see a lot of me," Dorothy Calhoun recalled her saying. "We sure were looking forward to it."
Chole Calhoun, back row in the center of three teammates, and her softball team. The young Auburn woman died when her vehicle was struck from behind on Route 38A in Owasco. Her friend Sydney Wilson is the player wearing braids.Provided photo