Steven Eldridge
/ file photo
PENN YAN, YATES COUNTY (AP) -- A 42-year-old man will serve faces 12 to 24 years in prison for the crash that killed six Amish farmers and injured eight others as they traveled on an upstate New York road last summer.
Steven Eldridge of Penn Yan was sentenced Tuesday in his Yates County hometown. He pleaded guilty last month to vehicular homicide and driving under the influence of drugs, admitting he was high on cocaine and prescription drugs on July 19, when he crashed into a van carrying 14 Amish farmers from neighboring Steuben County.
In addition to serving time, Eldridge will have to pay $300,000 in restitution to the victims for their medical expenses says the Yates County Clerk.
Police say Eldridge tried to pass a tractor in the rural town of Benton when he hit the van, pushing it under the tractor.
The Amish group was touring farms in the Fingers Lakes area 50 miles southeast of Rochester when the crash occurred.
(Copyright ©2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
