Tractor‑Trailer Hits N.Y. State Police Vehicle, Flees Thruway Scene

SULLIVAN, NY—A tractor trailer driver struck a State Police vehicle on the state Thruway in Madison County before fleeing the scene on Wednesday, troopers said.

Around 1 p.m., a trooper stopped his vehicle near mile marker 273 in the town of Sullivan to remove debris from the eastbound lanes, according to Krista Montie, a spokesperson for State Police.

The patrol vehicle was stopped in the right lane with its emergency lights on when a 2022 Peterbilt truck with a dump trailer attempted to go around the patrol vehicle by illegally passing onto the right shoulder, Montie said.

The truck struck the patrol vehicle and continued driving east on the Thruway, Montie said. The trooper avoided injury by moving to the median before the truck hit the vehicle.

The truck was stopped by troopers about 20 miles away.

The truck driver was Seth J. Horender, 55, of Little Falls. The truck was registered to Longhorn Trucking Company, located in Fort Plain in Montgomery County.

Inspectors determined the truck sustained damage on its left trailer wheels and rims. The patrol vehicle was towed.

Field sobriety tests did not indicate that Horender was impaired, Montie said.

No injuries were reported.

Horender was charged with failure to avoid colliding with an emergency vehicle. He was also cited for having an overweight vehicle.

He is due in Sullivan Town Court on April 21.

The incident is the second time a trooper’s patrol vehicle has been struck on the Thruway in less than two weeks.

During a traffic stop on the Thruway in Mamaroneck on March 15, a driver struck a patrol vehicle. That vehicle then hit the car it had stopped, which struck a trooper.

No serious injuries resulted from that incident.

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