Highway worker struck by vehicle

By Dan Hust
ROCK HILL — February 26, 2008 — A Town of Thompson Highway Department crew ended up dealing with more than they bargained for yesterday morning.
Forty-year-old Ronald Reuss of Monticello was working with his fellow highway employees around 8:30 a.m. Monday when, according to the State Police, 53-year-old Bridgeville resident Stanley Kenney literally ran into him.
Trooper Kurt LaBuda said that Kramer was travelling eastbound in his Chevy S-10 pickup on Holiday Mountain Road near Rock Hill when he was blinded by the sun’s glare and hit Reuss, who was patching potholes with two coworkers.
Kenney apparently saw the reflective vests of the workers at the last moment, but by then it was too late to avoid a collision.
The impact buckled the pickup’s bumper, shattered its windshield, and pushed Reuss underneath the highway department’s dump truck, which sustained minor damage.
Kenney (who was wearing his seatbelt) and the driver of the parked dump truck were unhurt, but Reuss suffered a broken left leg, a head abrasion and shoulder and arm pain.
He was transported by the Mamakating First Aid Squad to Catskill Regional Medical Center in Harris, where he was still being evaluated at press time yesterday.
LaBuda said Reuss’ injuries appeared to be non-life-threatening.
“He got real lucky,” said the trooper.
Kenney was ticketed for driving at a speed unreasonable for the conditions, considered a minor traffic infraction.
“He was a bit shaken,” confirmed LaBuda, adding that Kenney expressed deep sympathy and remorse for the accident.