Pickup Truck Hits Horse and Buggy in Minnesota, Killing 2

File photo of an Amish buggy in Michigan. (Ad Meskens/Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 3.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)])

A pickup truck smashed into a horse and buggy near Avon, Minnesota, on Dec. 16, killing two.

The single horse-drawn buggy had a 72-year-old male and a 66-year-old female inside when the crash occurred. Their identities were not revealed by the sheriff’s department, Fox9 reported.

A pickup truck smashed into a horse and buggy near Avon, Minnesota, on Dec. 16, killing two. Stearns County Sheriff's Office

The Stearns County Sheriff’s Office said 23-year-old Marc Lucas Knapp was heading northbound on County Road 9 when his truck hit the horse and buggy, which was on the shoulder of the road, KSTP reported.

The horse also died in the crash, reported KTSP.

“Knapp struck the buggy from behind sending it into the east ditch,” according to Sheriff Don Gudmundson, adding that he was driving a Ford F-150, the SC Times reported. The office said the crash was reported via the pickup’s On-Star impact activation system.

“Several other people stopped to assist at the crash scene,” officials said in a news release. “While officers were en route, information was received that both parties in the buggy were critically injured and CPR was in progress.”

Marc Lucas Knapp was heading northbound on County Road 9 when his truck hit the horse and buggy, which was on the shoulder of the road in Avon, pictured. Google Maps

Officials have not released any additional information. The crash is under investigation. Avon Fire & Rescue, Gold Cross Ambulance, and Minnesota State Patrol responded to the scene.

“The Stearns County Sheriff’s Office UAV was deployed to film and photograph the scene to assist with reconstruction,” the release said.

The bodies of the woman and man were taken to the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Other Crashes

Last year, a crash involving a horse-drawn carriage and a pickup truck in Michigan left three children dead in Michigan. Michigan State Police said at the time that a red Dodge Ram was traveling eastward when it hit the carriage and crushed it.

According to Michigan State Law, carriages are considered “traffic“ and said that “a person riding an animal or driving an animal-drawn vehicle upon a roadway shall be granted all of the rights and shall be subject to all the duties, criminal penalties, and civil sanctions applicable to the driver of a vehicle by this chapter, except those provisions of this chapter which by their very nature may not have application.”

In 2017, a teen was killed after a semi-truck hit a horse and buggy in central Minnesota. David Miller of Staples was driving the horse and buggy when a semi rear-ended the horse and buggy about 7:20 a.m., killing Miller and the horse, Twincities.com reported.

“These fatal crashes, just months apart, highlight the need for additional crash prevention measures to protect occupants of horse-drawn buggies. An assessment should be made to determine where horse-and-buggy road signs are needed. The young man who was tragically killed yesterday was from Staples, where there is an Amish community. The people in this community need every possible protection available to make sure they can safely travel on nearby roads,” stated law firm Pritzker Hagerman about the crash and the need for additional regulations.