Two Victims Identified in North Towanda Township Crash
By: Eric Deabill
Updated: November 21, 2012
North Towanda Township, Bradford County - Two people are dead after a crash Tuesday morning in Bradford County.
The wreck closed down Route 220 in North Towanda Township for hours while state police and the Bradford County coroner's office investigated what happened.
The Bradford County coroner has identified the victims as Scott Halboerster, 44, of Dushore in Sullivan County and John Ambrosone, 65, of Hammondsport, New York.
The wreck happened just before 10:30 AM.
Benjamin Felten lives near the accident scene but did not see the collision.
"The first thing we saw was just smoke billowing right out of the SUV there and it looked like the SUV was hanging off the bridge with its back-end hanging off the bridge and you could barely see the other car that was in the accident. It was behind the SUV," Felten said.
Yvonne Maloney works at a nearby restaurant. She says two men who saw the wreck rushed in and tried to help.
"They were over on the bank surveying and not far from the accident and they ran up and tried to get into the vehicles," Maloney said.
According to state police, the SUV driven by Halboerster was trying to pass another car, when it crossed the center line and hit the second SUV head-on.
"It makes you very sad, very sad," Ellie Bardell said.
Bardell is a van driver in the area and says people try to pass other cars in this part of Bradford County far too often.
"They should stop and think, there's children in those cars," Bardell said.
Besides the two men killed, troopers say a young girl in one of the SUVs was also injured. The girl was flown to Geisinger near Danville. The extent of her injuries are not known.
Benjamin Felten says LifeFlight landed right on Route 220 to help the girl.
Felten says this wreck is one of the worst he has seen.
"Since I've lived here, the last 24 years, I've only seen a handful of accidents but nothing as extreme as this," Felten said.
The coroner says Halboerster was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the deadly crash. Routine toxicology studies are being done in connection to this case.
