CHEEKTOWAGA, NY — We are learning more information related to that terrible ATV accident in Clarence last Saturday.
The Erie County District Attorney's Office says it is now involved in the investigation. The sheriff's office says charges are possible. One teen lost her life, a couple days ago, from injuries in that crash.
According to legal experts, they will be looking to see whether the driver, who survived this crash, was under the influence of anything, the night this terrible crash occurred.
"Now, I have to live without my daughter because of a stupid mistake," said Ann Potoczniak, the mother of Mikaela Gwitt, the 14-year-old Cheektowaga girl who died from injuries from the crash. The Erie County sheriff's Office says she was riding on the Clarence bike path with a 15-year-old boy who her family says was her boyfriend.
We found a sign on the bike path that says "No Unauthorized Motor Vehicles" are allowed. 2 On Your Side Legal analyst Barry Covert says police and prosecutors will be looking to answer specific questions, as part of their investigation.
"They'll be looking for whether there were any substances involved any alcohol, any drugs involved and if there weren't was there any type of inherently dangerous activity," Covert said.
Such as texting while driving — which Covert says could result in charges.
"There's a possibility of criminally negligent homicide or reckless endangerment," Covert said, "absent those types of inherently problematic behaviors chances are this is just a horrible tragedy."
That Covert says could just result in a traffic ticket. The ATV crash has raised concern among safety experts, who know ATV's are highly popular and can easily be used improperly.
"If you've grown up with an ATV or you had an ATV for a number of years," Bob Weaver, owner of Bob Weaver Motorsports said, "I think the big thing to remember is that it's still a mechanical piece of equipment you need to respect that piece of equipment and don't be over confident I think when you get overconfident is when you could have a problem."
He says that ATV riders should always wear a helmet, goggles, long sleeves and long pants, it's unclear if that was the case on Saturday. And if you're younger than 16 on public land, you have to be with an adult, again it's unclear if that was the case on Saturday as well.