Hurt Mom Tends to Baby Ejected from Buggy
By Autumn Ziemba, Fox 8 News Reporter
GEAUGA COUNTY, Ohio — A 4-month-old baby was recovering at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital on Friday after she was thrown from an Amish buggy during an accident.
According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP), a 70-year-old Bedford man was headed south on State Route 528 in Middlefield Twp. when he crossed the fog line and struck an Amish buggy from behind.
The buggy was driven by 28-year-old Bill Byler of Middlefield. His wife and infant daughter were riding in the buggy, and the baby was ejected during the crash.
An Amish neighbor who lives across the street from the scene of the accident spoke to Fox 8 News on Friday, but did not want to be identified.
He said he witnessed the courageous actions of an injured mother, just moments after the accident happened.
“The thing that amazed me was, typical mother, she crawled out from underneath the buggy and the baby was (lying) in a ditch and she actually went over and picked the baby out of the ditch, and here (the mother) was bleeding,” he said.
The destroyed buggy remained in pieces along the side of the road Friday afternoon.
A trooper with OSHP said when the infant was ejected, she landed in a ditch on the side of the road.
The neighbor told Fox 8 he believes that because of the damage the buggy sustained, being thrown from it may have saved the baby’s life.
“Thrown toward the ditch, (the baby) had a soft landing and I do think that it was better off that way than if it was restrained in the buggy,” he said.
The stretch of State Route 528 is a busy one, with cars and trucks traveling 55 mph, or faster, despite multiple signs that warn drivers to share the road with Amish buggies.
The neighbor told Fox 8 he often worries about his family’s safety when they take their buggy out on the road.
“It is a very vulnerable situation,” he explained. “A car hits a buggy, you just don’t have much chance in the buggy.”
OSHP said charges against the driver of the car are pending, but they have ruled out alcohol and speed as factors.
The 4-month-old is in stable condition.
