Preliminary hearing set in buggy accident

All five of the buggy’s occupants were ejected in the crash.

STAFF REPORT

MERCER, Pa. — A preliminary hearing is set for a woman who crashed into a horse-drawn buggy carrying five members of an Amish family, four of them children.

Jennifer Crenshaw, 38, of Geneva, Ohio, is scheduled to appear before District Justice Lorinda Hinch in Mercer at 10 a.m. Monday. She is charged with driving under the influence, five counts of aggravated assault while driving under the influence, and other traffic offenses, said Pennsylvania State Police here.

All five occupants of the buggy were ejected in the crash, which happened at 6:50 p.m. Saturday on state Route 358 in Perry Township. The accident happened about a mile west from where the family lives in Clarks Mills.

The children’s father, Benjamin Kempf, 29, remained in critical condition late Monday at St. Elizabeth Health Center, the hospital said.

Two of the Kempf children, David, 6, and Melvin, 4, have been discharged from Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, that hospital reported. The other two, Erma, 5, and Miriam, 1, remained at Children’s in fair condition.

It was the second such accident in less than a week.

Erven Byler, 22, of Hartstown, Crawford County, was thrown from his buggy on the same road after being struck by a hit-and-run driver at 12:50 a.m. May 5. Timothy F. Alter, 29, of Transfer, Pa., was charged days later with hit-and-run involving death or injury. He is to appear before Hinch for a preliminary hearing Friday.

Byler remained in critical condition late Monday at St. Elizabeth.