The former owner of the Showboat Motel and Restaurant in Himrod, who police claim was drunk when he ran a stop sign and crashed into a van taking a family of eight to watch fireworks on the fourth of July in Yates County, will have his case heard by a grand jury.
WENY television in Elmira reports Mark Cronin, who was just re-elected as a Horseheads Village Trustee, did not accept a plea deal offered by the District Attorney’s Office and will instead appear before a Yates County grand jury later this month.
On July 4th, the sheriff’s department said Cronin failed to stop for a stop sign at the intersection of Second Milo and Bath Road in the town of Milo and crashed into a van driven by Zachary Bailey of Dundee. The impact caused the van to roll over. Bailey and his seven passengers, including six kids who were between the ages of nine months and 16 years, were taken to several hospitals by ambulance and helicopters for their injuries.
Cronin was charged with DWI, vehicular assault, and failure to stop. The 53-year-old reportedly turned down a deal that would have seen him receive one to three years in prison.
