2:25 p.m. update: A 75-year-old Shandaken woman was killed in a head-on crash on Route 28 in the Delaware County hamlet of Arkville at 6:17 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 4, according to a press release issued by the New York State Police.
Harriet A. Rauchut was driving east near the Oakley's Place restaurant just outside of the hamlet when her Mercury Grand Marquis sedan was hit by a pickup truck that had crossed into the eastbound lane, police say.
Forty-five-year-old Richard E. Herrel of Delhi was driving west in the pickup truck, a Chevrolet Silverado, when he "attempted to avoid an unknown object in the roadway" and drove into the oncoming lane in front of Rauchut, the press release states.
Emergency responders transported both drivers to Margaretville Memorial Hospital, where Herrel was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and where Rauchut was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m. by Nanette Treadwell, a physician's assistant at the hospital.
Delaware County Coroner Richard Ucci later ruled that the cause of Rauchut's death was "blunt force trauma," police say.
Police believe that neither alcohol nor drugs were a factor in the crash, according to the press release. The investigation is ongoing.
Original story: A fatal collision in the Delaware County hamlet of Arkville shut down Route 28 on the evening of Wednesday, Nov. 4, according to the New York State Police and local drivers who were routed around the closed road last night.
The incident is still under investigation, according to an officer at the Margaretville barracks of the New York State Police, and more details about the crash will be released once it is completed.
The collision happened around 6:17 p.m. on Wednesday night near the Oakley's Place restaurant just outside of the hamlet, the state police officer confirmed.
In August, a head-on crash farther south on the same road in the Ulster County town of Olive killed one person.
Correction: The crash happened at 6:17 p.m., not around 7 p.m., as we originally reported.
