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Man charged for buggy accident

BELLEVILLE — Jakob T. Boring, 22, of Belleville, was charged Wednesday with one felony count for an accident involving personal injury and one felony count aggravated assault by vehicle after investigation determined he was responsible for crash in which members of an Amish family were injured.

Court documents state Boring was driving a Ford Ranger westbound on Back Mountain Road one wintery night in February when he struck the rear of a horse buggy, pushing it and its occupants approximately 30 feet west and ejecting at least one of the buggy occupants and injuring the horse. The buggy driver told police he was taking himself and his siblings to their residence when Boring struck the buggy and he was ejected onto a snow embankment along the right side of the roadway.

The buggy driver also told police that despite having some neck discomfort and a small abrasion to the back of his head, he checked on his siblings, at which point two people from the truck yelled at him, asking, “Why are you riding around this late?” The driver reported making contact with a nearby resident, who called 911, but when he returned to the scene, the truck was gone.

Documents state the horse dislodged from the buggy and trotted to the Amish family’s residence. The owner told police the horse sustained leg injuries, but it would survive.

Medical records revealed one of the buggy passengers suffered multiple facial and skull fractures that required surgery and another sustained a 10-inch laceration to her left, lower leg, which required approximately 23 sutures. The passenger also sustained a laceration to the back of her head, which required 20 staples.

The buggy driver provided a description of the striking truck, which matched the description of a vehicle Boring had previously operated. Police also knew the vehicle was involved in a December 2018 accident in Union Township, court documents state. Officers made contact with Boring, who came to the police station with a family attorney and agreed to be interviewed. Boring reportedly confessed to operating the vehicle that struck the buggy, but indicated he did not have ample warning to the presence of the buggy and did not see the reflective triangle on the buggy until it was too late to avoid impact.

Boring told police he was the only occupant of the vehicle, that he stopped just beyond the crash site, approached the younger siblings who were standing after the crash and observed that two of them were bleeding. Boring also reported one of the siblings said they were all okay when he asked and that he was “shaken” by the incident, so he fled to his residence, parking the vehicle in the rear of the property to hide it from his parents until he could explain what happened.

Boring was charged with a total of eight counts, including two felonies, one misdemeanor and five summary traffic offenses. Boring was committed to the Mifflin County Correctional Facility following a preliminary arraignment Wednesday during which Magisterial District Judge Kent Smith set bail at $25,000. According to court documents, Boring posted $2,500 bond the same day he was committed and waived his preliminary hearing.

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