Three crashes and one accident within two days — three involving Amish people — resulted in two deaths in Lafayette County last weekend.
The first death occurred when a 22-year-old rural Cuba City man died in a manure spreader accident on Mine Road in the Town of Elk Grove Friday afternoon.
A Lafayette County Sheriff’s Office news release said that Amos King, an Amish farmer, was operating a horse-drawn slurry-type manure spreading unit on the farm. King became entangled, was dragged and was run over by one of the spreader’s steel wheels.
Lafayette County Chief Deputy Coroner Richard Ruf pronounced King dead at the scene.
The Cuba City Fire Department and Ambulance assisted at the scene.
The second death occurred at a crash in the Town of New Diggings Saturday morning, though it is not yet clear if the crash caused the death.
A car driven by Joseph L. Shepherd, 70, Shullsburg, was going west on Aetna Road west of Palfrey Road around 10 a.m. when the car went out of control along the right ditch line and shoulder, crossed the centerline, and struck an embankment along the south side of Aetna Road.
Shepherd was taken by Hazel Green EMS to a Dubuque hospital, where he died several hours later.
The Sheriff’s Office news release said that based on preliminary medical findings, a “personal health emergency” may have contributed to Shepherd’s death. Aetna Road was ice-covered and slippery because of overnight freezing rain, and town road maintenance personnel “had not yet been able to reach that section of roadway,” the news release said.
An autopsy has been requested, the news release said.
The second crash occurred Friday morning on College Farm Road in the Town of Belmont, resulting to injuries to the 15-year-old driver of an Amish buggy.
The driver, Daniel K. Glick, was driving a buggy on College Farm Road around 7:55 a.m. when the buggy was rear-ended by a pickup truck driven by Jordan W. Prochnow, 21, Cambria.
Prochnow told sheriff’s deputies he had taken his eyes off the road to operate his windshield washer control because of frost buildup on his windshield, and when he looked back to the road, he saw the buggy and was unable to avoid the collision.
Glick was taken by Platteville EMS to Southwest Health, and then by Med Flight helicopter to a Madison hospital.
Prochnow was not injured. Glick’s horse had a broken leg and was destroyed by a veterinarian called to the scene.
The Platteville Fire Department and Grant County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene.
The incident will be referred to the Lafayette County district attorney for review and a decision on charges, a Sheriff’s Department news release said.
Henry Beiler, 22, Platteville, was injured when the Amish buggy he was driving was hit by a pickup truck on Sunnydale Road in the Town of Belmont Saturday around 6:55 a.m. A truck driven by Brandon Blum, 20, Montfort, slid on ice and hit Beiler’s buggy. Both were treated at the scene.
