Girl, 17, killed in crash; driver charged

A 17-year-old girl was killed in a one-vehicle crash on state Route 23A, and the 17-year-old boy who was driving the vehicle has been charged with criminally negligent homicide, the Greene County Sheriff’s Office said Monday.

Two other occupants of the Toyota, a boy and a girl, both also 17, and the driver were taken to Albany Medical Center for treatment of minor injuries suffered in the crash, Greene County Sheriff Gregory Seeley said. All four occupants were from New Jersey and were visiting a house in Hunter, without any of their parents present, the sheriff said.

The sheriff said his office would not provide the names of any of the teens because of their ages.

The crash happened about 5:40 a.m. Sunday near Horse Shoe Bend, an Scurve near Kaaterskill Falls, and the 17-year-old girl was pronounced dead at the scene, Seeley said. He said the vehicle was “dangling on guard rails” above a ravine when rescuers arrived.

The deceased passenger, from Tom’s River, N.J., was ejected from the back seat, Seeley said. She and the other back-seat passenger, a boy, were not wearing seat belts, the sheriff said.

Both front-seat occupants were wearing seat belts, he said.

Seeley called the crash “just heartbreaking” and said it was caused by “careless driving, just reckless driving.”

The sheriff said there were “no immediate signs” that drug or alcohol use played a role in the crash.

“It was a sheer tragedy,” Seeley said. “I don’t want any family to go through this . ...

“This 17-year-old kid’s got to live with this for the rest of his life,” he said of the driver. “This is what happens when you do stupid stuff.”

The driver was charged with criminally negligent homicide, a felony, along with the misdemeanors of reckless endangerment and reckless driving, and speeding and other traffic violations, the Sheriff’s Office said.

He was arraigned in Cairo Town Court and sent to jail in lieu of $25,000 bail, the Sheriff’s Office said.