Police probe: Driver broke no laws in Schenectady accident

Share on Facebook

Save

No charges face the driver involved in the State Street accident that injured seven members of the Anderson family, a police investigation has concluded.

Joel M. Eddy of Saratoga County was driving on State Street Dec. 3 when he struck the family as they crossed mid-block near Chestnut Street. Sherry Anderson and six of her children were injured and one remains hospitalized.

After a nearly two week investigation, police concluded the Eddy was not at fault and that pedestrian error was involved, police spokesman Det. Christopher Wrubel said.

Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney noted that Eddy was driving about 28 mph — below the State Street speed limit — and no drugs or alcohol were involved. The speed was estimated through reconstruction and data from Eddy’s truck, Carney said.

The investigation concluded there was no criminal wrongdoing, Carney said.

“Whether there was negligence is an issue for the civil court,” Carney said.

Edward Anderson, father of the six children injured, said Tuesday he had yet to be notified formally of the investigation’s findings. He reacted when told by a reporter. “How does he not see seven people in the road?”

Anderson confirmed the family is working with an attorney to explore civil proceedings.

There was no answer Tuesday evening at a phone number matching Eddy’s information.

ONE STILL IN HOSPITAL

Regarding his family, Anderson said 10-year-old Lynn suffered the worst injuries and remains hospitalized at Albany Medical Center. Her condition has improved from critical in the days after the accident to fair this week.

She was also in a coma but has slowly been coming out, her father said. She’s also begun recognizing her family. She has yet to speak and doctors remain unsure if she suffered brain damage.

They’ve been given no indication when she might be released, but the family is still holding out hope that she could be home for Christmas, her father said.

“She’s a strong little girl,” Edward Anderson said. “She just might do it.”

The rest of his family has been released from hospitals, including wife Sherry, son Charles, 2, Isaiah, 6, and daughters Sapeca, 15, Elizabeth, 11, and Susan, 10.

Another daughter, Angela, 14, was with her grandmother at the time of the accident.

They were well enough Monday to take a trip to Albany’s Washington Park to see the Christmas lights. The Albany Police Athletic League gave them a tour and CDTA donated the bus to get them there.

Along the way the children got to see Santa. The older ones, their dad said, found the meeting kind of cheesy but the younger ones enjoyed it.

Overall, he said, the outing went well.

“The kids enjoyed themselves,” he said. “It gave them an opportunity to forget what’s been going on.”