Skidmore death stirs discussion on off-campus partying

PHOTOGRAPHER: Erica Miller

Three Skidmore College students were struck by an an alleged drunken driver on on Halloween night on Clinton Street in Greenfield at the Saratoga Springs city line. All three students were taken to the hospital, where one later died.

It was after midnight on Halloween night. Fred McNeary Jr., awakened and setting out to investigate a loud party, had never seen so many parked cars or so many young people walking on rural Daniels Road, just outside Saratoga Springs.

Then, through the trees, he caught the flashing red emergency lights on Clinton Street.

A 19-year-old Skidmore College student was dying and two others were badly injured, the pedestrian victims of an allegedly drunken driver.

Police are looking at the Oct. 31 off-campus party at a Daniels Road property that McNeary saw as part of their investigation into the circumstances surrounding the crash that killed freshman Michael Hedges, 19, of Lenox, Massachusetts. Hundreds of college-age young people appear to have attended the gathering, many walking between the party location and campus.

“We are aware of the party, and the investigation is ongoing,” Saratoga County Sheriff Michael H. Zurlo said on Friday.

Thomas H. Gorman, 64, of Wilton, was arrested that night on charges of felony first-degree vehicular assault and misdemeanor DWI. He remains in the Saratoga County jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.

In his statement to deputies, Gorman alluded to clusters of people walking on dark and narrow Clinton Street, groups that he had to steer around in the seconds before the 11:19 p.m. accident.

A Daniels Road resident who drove home from downtown about 10:30 p.m. that night told The Daily Gazette that he also saw students walking on Clinton Street. He said seeing students walking late at night was unusual.

The walkers’ apparent destination was a large “barn party” west of the campus on Daniels, which a Facebook post indicates was going to be attended by more than 500 people. There were live bands and a $5 cover charge. The party was advertised as bring-your-own-bottle, and open to all ages.

There is no direct evidence that Hedges or his injured companions, 19-year-old Toby Freeman of New York City or Oban Galbraith, 18, of Shelburne, Vermont, were going to or coming from the party, but they were among the many students walking that night. Freeman and Galbraith were seriously injured but are recovering.

“If you followed the trail of kids, it was very evident [Hedges] was part of that trail of kids,” said McNeary, who is CEO of the Prestwick Chase senior housing community on Denton Road and a Daniels Road resident.

McNeary said he’s had a longtime issue with the large and loud parties that happen periodically at a Daniels Road property. He said he tried to alert Greenfield town officials that the Halloween gathering was coming up nearly a week beforehand, believing it could be a violation of the town’s mass-gathering law.

But the building inspector was on vacation and the town supervisor was out of town, and nothing came of his warning, he said.

Greenfield town Supervisor Paul Lunde acknowledged he didn’t become aware until after the party, despite McNeary’s efforts.

“The sad part, and what really bothers me, is that this kid didn’t have to die if the town had enforced its mass-gathering law,” McNeary said.

McNeary attended a Greenfield Town Board meeting Thursday night, as did residents both for and against the idea of installing streetlights to improve pedestrian safety in the Clinton Street area.

At the meeting, Braim Road resident James Chorman submitted a 75-signature petition calling for adding shoulders on Clinton, which has none.

“If you’re a bicyclist or jogger or pedestrian, it’s fairly difficult,” Chorman said. “I think there could be 4-foot shoulders at a fairly reasonable cost.”

Chorman said the road conditions needed to be addressed even if there hadn’t been a tragic death. He noted that traffic volume on both Clinton and Daniels has increased in recent years.

“I think [students] have all the right in the world to walk there, and should be able to do so safely,” said Chorman, a retired BOCES teacher.

Lunde said the petition’s ideas are being considered, and he plans to set up a meeting with Skidmore officials for this coming week.

“We’re working on it, but we haven’t finalized anything yet,” Lunde said Friday.

But Lunde also said the lack of shoulders or the dark conditions on Clinton aren’t the root of the problem.

“The problem isn’t the road or the signs, it’s the illegal partying and drinking in that area,” Lunde said. “There’s no reason students should be walking on that road at night.”

Clinton Street runs along the western edge of the campus, going north to a T-intersection with Daniels Road. While the campus sits within the city of Saratoga Springs, Clinton almost immediately enters the town of Greenfield. None of the road past the city limit has shoulders, although student townhouses sit off of it just north of the campus. The crash occurred just below the road’s intersection with Daniels, about a half-mile from the campus.

Daniels is a busy county road, serving many drivers as an unofficial bypass around the north end of Saratoga Springs.

Along Daniels, houses rented by groups of students and sometimes known as “party houses” sit cheek-by-jowl with the college riding stable and a thoroughbred horse farm that wouldn’t be out of place in central Kentucky. The college’s Jonsson Tower sits just above the eastern tree line, a reminder of how close the city lies.

A cellphone video McNeary filmed Halloween night after being awakened by a neighbor who was concerned about the noise shows parked cars lining both sides of Daniels near the party site. While they’re hard to discern on the video, McNeary said there were also groups of people walking on the shoulders of the road.

“I was literally dodging groups of kids,” he said.

McNeary called state police, who responded. The Sheriff’s Department, however, is overseeing the investigation into the fatality. McNeary said he was interviewed by investigators several days later.

In the wake of the tragedy, college and town officials both said they’re willing to consider changes on Clinton Street.

Since Halloween, Skidmore has written to officials in both Greenfield and Saratoga Springs asking them to discuss ways to improve safe access to the school.

“Skidmore is interested in working with the town of Greenfield and city of Saratoga Springs on improving access in that area,” college spokesman Andrea Wise said.

Wise said the private liberal arts college has a policy of not sanctioning any off-campus parties, but there is ongoing education for students about how to get around the community safely, and discouragement of underage drinking.

Hedges’ death prompted an outpouring of grief on campus. Counseling services are being made available.

“Our main concern is keeping students safe and encouraging responsible choices,” Wise said.

The college is cooperating with the law enforcement investigation, Wise noted.