VARYSBURG, N.Y. — A 4-year-old New Jersey girl continues to fight for life at Buffalo’s Oishei Children’s Hospital, after an early Sunday morning crash that killed three of her family members in the Wyoming County town of Sheldon.
The Wyoming County Sheriff’s Department identified the deceased victims as Ondina Castro De La Cruz, 47, Mayelin Brito-Castro, 32 and Kyara Hernandez-Brito, age 4, who died from head injuries at Wyoming County Community Hospital approximately two hours after the crash.
Additional victims from the minivan were identified by the Wyoming County Sheriff’s department as :
Reyes Rodriguez- age 55, was taken by Warsaw Ambulance to WCCH and was later released.
Maria Brito-Castro- age 26, was taken by Monroe Ambulance to ECMC for a lacerated liver, broken ribs and broken arm and has been discharged.
Mayelin’s son, age 14, was taken by Attica Ambulance to WCCH for lacerations and bruising and later transferred to Oishei Children’s Hospital and has been discharged.
Maria’s daughter, age 10, was taken by Varysburg Ambulance to Oishei Children’s Hospital for facial fractures, lacerations, and a broken leg and has been discharged.
Maria’s daughter, age 4 (a twin), was taken by North Java Ambulance to Oishei Children’s Hospital for a head injury and is still in critical condition and in intensive care.
Maria’s daughter, age 4 (a twin), was taken by Mercy EMS to Oishei Children’s Hospital for a broken arm, broken clavicle and lacerations and has been discharged.
Officials say all the family members resided in the area of Perth Amboy, New Jersey.
Richard Sawicki, 20, of Lackawanna, had purchased beer with a fake ID the night before the crash according to Sheriff Gregory Rudolph, who says Sawicki then attended an all-night party.
Wyoming County District Attorney Donald O’Geen says Sawicki was drunk behind the wheel when he ran a stop sign on Maxon Road, and T-boned the van carrying members of the New Jersey family at the intersection of Rt. 20A.
Sawicki is being held on $100,000 cash bail or $200,000 property bond and has been charged with Aggravated Vehicular Homicide, Driving While Intoxicated and Reckless Driving.
According to police, the family from New Jersey was traveling to Niagara Falls for vacation.
“I’ve been in the fire department here 39 years and it is probably one of the most horrific things I ever attended,” said Varysburg Fire Chief Jim Kelly, one of 75 emergency personnel who responded to the scene.
Meanwhile, O’Geen expressed frustration over what he called “victim blaming”, after hearing conversation regarding the fact that seven of the nine passengers in the van were thrown from the vehicle, likely due to the fact that they were not wearing seat belts or riding in child safety seats.
“Yes, we do not want people to put nine passengers in a seven-passenger van…we don’t want people not to buckle their kids into proper restraints. But that's not what caused the deaths of these victims. There’s only one cause of that and that is the alleged actions of Mr. Sawicki."
O'Geen also seized the opportunity rail against so-called criminal justice reforms pushed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo which were passed by state legislators as part of his most recent budget.
“They were actually a continuation of a pro-criminal, anti-victim agenda here in New York and one of the so-called reforms is changes to the bail system," said O’Geen, claiming that the changes would allow someone charged with a nonviolent felony, such as Sawicki, to be released without bail.
“In fact, if Mr. Sawicki is charged on January 1 (the day the new laws take effect) with the same charges he faces now, he will walk out the door of the Wyoming County jail. These bail changes are repugnant.. and maybe this case will open the eyes of the pro-criminal New York state leaders," O’Geen said.