CONEWANGO — A 14-year-old Amish boy died in a logging accident Friday morning in the town of Conewango, just one week after his teen cousin was killed in an Ellicottville car crash.
Neil Raber, 14, of Pope Road, died from severe head trauma with multiple fractures after he fell off a horse-drawn cart and a log rolled over him, said Cattaraugus County Coroner Howard VanRensselaer, who confirmed that Raber was the cousin of David Shetler, a Franklinville 15-year-old who died Jan. 28 when he was riding in a car that spun out on ice and was hit by another car.
“You deal with a 15-year-old and then a 14-year-old — it’s very difficult,” VanRensselaer said.
Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s deputies said Friday they are investigating the death of the 14-year-old Amish boy, whom they declined to identify.
Raber was killed when he and his father, Eli, were riding in a horse-drawn cart that was dragging a log down a wooded hillside near 5782 Northeast Road. VanRensselaer said the hill was “very, very” steep and the ground was frozen and slippery, and that Raber was on the cart as they were moving down the hill when he fell off the back.
“The father and his family members have been in the logging business for a very, very long time and this is just a fluke accident. … It’s just one of those things that happen,” he said.
According to deputies, a 911 call was made about a logging accident at 8:55 a.m. Friday. Conewango and Ellington fire departments, Randolph Emergency Medical Services, New York State Forest Rangers and Cattaraugus County Emergency Services, with trauma doctor Brian Walters, all responded to the scene.
VanRensselaer, who pronounced Raber dead on scene, said a death is always difficult for he and first responders, but especially when it’s a young person.
“My heart always goes out to those EMS and first responders,” he said. “I kind of come into it as the last person and have to do what I do as my job, but they’re the ones that go there on many occasions thinking they’re going to be saving someone’s life.”
VanRensselaer said the death of Raber’s cousin just a week ago certainly intensifies the agony of those involved.
Shetler was a passenger in a Dodge Caravan driven by Clinton Krivulka, 60, of Conewango Valley, who lost control on Route 242 due to snow and icy conditions, police said. Shetler and Krivulka were killed when the car crossed into the oncoming lane and was struck in the rear by a Dodge Ram pickup truck who was deemed not at fault, according to Lt. James Bouchard of the Ellicottville Police Department.
Shetler’s older brother, Lewis, 16, was also riding in the car and sustained serious injuries. Police last reported he was in a medically-induced coma at Women and Children’s Hospital in Buffalo, and an employee of the facility said Lewis Shetler was no longer a patient as of Friday night.
VanRensselaer said that when he returned Raber’s body to his home, the teen’s parents and six siblings were taking the death “very hard.”
“I saw a lot of grief when I took the young man to his home,” he said.
(Contact reporter Tom Dinki at tdinki@oleantimesherald.com. Follow him on Twitter, @tomdinki)
