WAWARSING - A Pine Bush teenager was killed, and another Pine Bush resident seriously injured, in a head-on collision on Route 52 this past Thursday afternoon. Justin M. Helms, an eighteen-year-old, was driving westbound at approximately 2:50 p.m., when his Honda Civic crossed over the double-yellow line into oncoming traffic. Mark D. Vail, who was driving eastbound in a Ford Econoline Van, attempted to avoid Helms by swerving into the westbound lane. Unfortunately, Helms reacted by steering back into the westbound lane himself, and the two vehicles hit head-on.

Ellenville Police Chief Phil Mattricion said that the Ellenville Police Department patrol car was the first unit on the scene, after responding to a call put out by the Ulster County Sheriff regarding a head-on collision with serious physical injuries.

“Our car proceeded to the scene to hold it down until the Sheriff's Department or the State [Police] could get there,” Mattricion said. “The officer immediately advised me that he had checked for pulse, there was none, and that the subject was DOA. He was identified later as Justin Helms.”

Mattricion said that the officer then proceeded to treat the other victim, Mr. Vail, and that rescue arrived several minutes later. Vail was then flown by helicopter to St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie with injuries that were not considered to be life threatening.

The accident adds to the seemingly endless string of tragedies that have occurred on Route 52 over the past several years. As many as twenty individuals have died along this section of road in recent years, raising serious concerns that measures should be taken to prevent more such tragedies from occurring.