The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

June 29, 2009

UPDATE: ATV rider rescued after crash in off-road vehicle area at lake

Injured man taken out by boat

By Monica Pryts

SOUTH PYMATUNING TOWNSHIP — After about an hour of searching dense woods, emergency crews rescued a man who was alone and hurt after crashing his all-terrain vehicle Monday afternoon in South Pymatuning Township.

Three other ATV riders following a trail through the Bayview off-road vehicle area on Saranac Drive next to the Shenango River Lake called 911 around 3:30 p.m. after finding the man, whose name wasn’t available late Monday, said J.T. Palovsky, assistant chief of South Pymatuning Township Volunteer Fire Department.

It’s unknown if the man was knocked unconscious in the crash, if he was wearing a helmet or how long he was alone before help arrived, Palovsky said.

Firefighters took the department’s ATV into the woods and were joined by the Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees that area, township police and McGonigle Ambulance workers.

They had trouble finding the man at first because the ATV trails are complicated and difficult to navigate, Palovsky said.

“It’s a maze of trails,” he said.

They located the man around 4:30 p.m. about 500 yards from the parking lot on Saranac. He was about 30 yards from the lake.

Instead of carrying him out of the woods, rescuers used a boat to take the injured man to an area of the shore where a helicopter was waiting to take him to a hospital, Palovsky said.

He didn’t know the extent of the man’s injuries or to which hospital he was flown.

The fire department responds to at least one ATV crash each year in the Bayview area, a popular spot for off-roading, and Palovsky said riders need to use the “buddy system” and wear helmets.

It was the second ATV-assisted rescue in the area in recent days.

Around 6:40 p.m. Saturday, emergency crews in Sharon rescued an injured man with the help of an ATV. Frank Erricheto, 56, Masury, fell off a steep hill in the backyard of a home in the 600 block of South Irvine Ave., police Chief Mike Menster said Monday.

He landed in a dirt- and rock-covered area not far from the train tracks, a spot police couldn’t reach on foot. A South Irvine Avenue resident used his ATV to take police to where Erricheto lay injured, Menster said.

Erricheto was driven a short distance on the ATV along a dirt access road to the Sharon Fire Department’s pickup truck, which took him to a helicopter waiting at Penn-Ohio Self Storage, 251 Wheeler St., Sharon.

Erricheto had head, face, arm and leg injuries and was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center, Youngstown, where a hospital spokeswoman said he was in satisfactory condition.

Police believe alcohol was a factor but Menster couldn’t confirm if Erricheto was drunk.

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