July 27, 2005
Cops provide possible cause of fatal crash
By Victor Whitman
Times Herald-Record
[email protected]
Fallsburg – The beloved Brooklyn teacher killed Sunday evening in an accident en route to his son's bar mitzvah might have swerved to avoid a pedestrian walking in the road, police say.
Pesach Goldberg, 47, died instantly and his wife and six of his nine children were injured after his Ford Aerostar crashed head-on into a Ford Explorer around 8:45 p.m. along Thompsonville Road.
Charges may be pending against the pedestrian, said Sgt. Simmie Williams of Fallsburg police.
The man was white, middle-aged and not Hasidic, according to authorities.
Williams said he's still waiting for a report from the state police on the accident reconstruction.
"We are not sure if he was by the road or on the road," Williams said. "I am still digging into that."
But a passenger in the second car involved in the accident, Jonnie Wesley-Krueger, says she believes that Goldberg swerved to avoid a pedestrian that she saw walking in the same road about a half hour earlier.
The man was walking toward South Fallsburg. The Kruegers – Jonnie, her husband, James, and their twin 10-year-old boys were heading to South Fallsburg to return a boat. Her husband, James, had to swerve to avoid the man.
"He was in the middle of the lane when we passed him," she said.
After returning the boat, the Kruegers immediately got back on Thompsonville Road, now heading in the opposite direction toward Route 17. Moments later, Goldberg's minivan crested a slight hill near the Raleigh Hotel and smashed into them, she said.
Krueger said she didn't see the pedestrian during the accident, but later the same man whom she saw walking in the road was questioned by police at the scene.
"There was a number of people who had seen this man walking," she said.
Goldberg's family had dressed up and were heading for a celebration at a catering hall for the bar mitzvah. The funeral of the well-known teacher of Jewish studies was held Monday in Brooklyn.
Goldberg's wife, Tova, was flown from the scene with head injuries and remains in critical but stable condition in Westchester Medical Center. Six of his children were injured. One child was admitted to hospital with a hip injury, according to authorities.
Krueger, who was seriously injured in an accident three years ago and is a spokeswoman for Orange Regional Medical Center, said she walked away with a lacerated tongue and some stiffness. Her husband has a fractured collarbone, one son has a bump on the head and her other son has a fractured nose, she said.
"I feel incredibly lucky," she said.
"That's nothing in contrast to this poor other family."
http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2005/07/27/accident.htm
