Accident Information

The press release was not legible when scanned, so below it is transcribed for you. The drunk driver's name is not printed, only his initials, and my mother's age and my age are incorrect. Barbara Gershe was 28, and Michael was 8 weeks old at the time of the accident.

Mother Killed in Collision of Cars; One Driver Held

Spring Valley, NY Sept.20 - A woman was fatally injured and her infant son was seriously hurt early today in an automobile collision that led to the arrest of a motorist on charges of criminally negligent homicide, and driving while intoxicated and driving with a suspended license.

The police said a car driven by H.D. 27 years old, of Suffern, NY, struck another operated by Martin Gershe, 29, of Spring Valley at the intersection of Route 45 and New Hempstead Road.

Mr. Gershe's wife, Barbara 26, died later in Ramapo General Hospital in Spring Valley. Their 11-week old son, Michael was listed in serious condition at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern. Mr. D, against whom the charges were filed was held in the Rockland County Jail at New City in lieu of $6,000 bail.

The following information was taken from the official 'offense report' courtesy of the Rampo Police Department.

The drunk driver, H.D. was driving with a revoked license from 1967, claimed to have had 6 beers as he ran the red light and collided with our car. To make matters worse, he lied to the officer about who was driving. H.D. claimed it was his friend, but his friend's wife told the officer on the scene that she and her husband were in the backseat at the time of the accident. The friend also gave the same account as his wife to the officer. The officer noticed H.D. had "a very strong smell of alcoholic beverage on his breath, and that his eyes were bloodshot, his speech was very slurred."

Later at the hospital, HD admitted to another officer that he was the actual driver of the car. According to the report, H.D.'s eyes were bloodshot, his speech slurred, and had a strong odor of alcohol from his breath. When his blood was tested for alcohol, nearly 3 hours after the accident, it was 0.10%.

H.D. was eventually charged with criminal negligent homicide, driving while intoxicated and driving with a suspended license. He was sent to State Prison, maximum 3 years.