Star Tribune
Woman hit Amish buggy in Fillmore County, left 9 injured family members behind
A 32-year-old woman with a shaky driving record hit an Amish buggy in southern Minnesota and left the scene, while seven children and their parents occupying the horse-drawn carriage suffered injuries of varying degrees, according to charges filed Tuesday.
Brittany N. Edgar, of Spring Valley, Minn., was charged in Fillmore County District Court with two counts of criminal vehicular operation, leaving the scene of a crash, careless driving and two counts related to failure to carry proof of insurance, stemming from the Feb. 16 collision.
Edgar was charged by summons and is scheduled to appear in court on May 20. A message was left with Edgar seeking her response to the allegations. Court records do not list an attorney.
Court records in Minnesota show that Edgar has two convictions for drug offenses, one each for drunken driving, a lane violation, disobeying a traffic control device and speeding, along with two for careless driving.
The father told the Sheriff’s Office that the family’s 12-year-old suffered a concussion, their 3-year-old had a broken arm, and their 1-year-old sustained a skull fracture and a swollen left eye. He said he, his wife and the four other children had minor injuries.
The crash was the second serious collision involving an Amish buggy in Minnesota in February and the third in the state since September.
According to the criminal complaint against Edgar, a sheriff’s deputy was dispatched shortly after 10 p.m. to County Road 1 near Spring Valley and saw an SUV parked on one shoulder and the buggy in a ditch.
About 10 minutes later, a fellow deputy saw a car with heavy front-end damage, no rear lights and one headlight out heading south on County Road 1. The deputy pulled over the car with Edgar behind the wheel. She told the deputy she hit a deer a couple of hours earlier. The deputy, having learned of the SUV back at the crash scene, let Edgar go with a warning.
But back at the scene, one witness told law enforcement that it was a car that collided with the buggy, then drove off.
The father of the children told a deputy that he saw two vehicles coming up from behind, so he edged the buggy over to the shoulder, but said it was hit by the second vehicle.
Shortly after 10:50 p.m., a sheriff’s sergeant found the car at Edgar’s home. She repeated that she hit a deer, but eventually conceded that she struck the buggy, the complaint said.
On Sept. 25, also on County Road 1 near Spring Valley, 35-year-old twins allegedly swapped identities in a plot to conceal from law enforcement who was driving an SUV that hit an Amish buggy. Two of the four children inside were killed, and the women are facing homicide charges. On Feb. 1, an Amish couple and their four small children in a horse-drawn buggy were injured in a collision with a teenage driver southeast of Hinckley, Minn., the Pine County Sheriff’s Office said. Charges have yet to be filed in that case.
“This is an area that swings back and forth depending on the election cycle, and it’s an area that really can deliver those decisive votes for candidates in a statewide election,” said Anthony Chergosky, a University of Wisconsin-La Crosse political science professor. “If the Harris-Walz ticket can develop a brand that helps them stop the party’s slide in rural Wisconsin, then that will massively help their path to victory.”
Both presidential campaigns have spent considerable time in Wisconsin. Trump recently visited the state four times in a span of eight days. Harris held rallies in La Crosse and Green Bay earlier this month, and Walz made stops in Eau Claire, Green Bay and Madison. Walz told a crowd gathered at a “Students for Harris-Walz” event in Eau Claire that “it’s very realistic to believe that this race will be won going through Wisconsin.”
Though both campaigns have made frequent visits to the Badger State, their stops appear to be geared toward shoring up their respective bases, retired GOP strategist Brandon Scholz said.
“I think Tim Walz’s job right now in Wisconsin, from what he’s saying and where he’s going and what he’s doing, is, ‘let’s make sure 99 percent of our voters turn out, because we need every single one of them because of how close Wisconsin is,’” Scholz said. “To date, neither he nor Harris have communicated a message to bring in those undecideds, ticket splitters.”
Ryan O’Gara is one of those undecideds. The 47-year-old Christian conservative lives in the village of Downing, some 20 miles northwest of Menomonie and home to about 230 people. O’Gara said he sees mostly Trump signs around his town, but he isn’t a fan of either nominee and likely will sit out this election.
Asked what he thought of Walz, O’Gara referred to him as “far-left.” He said he disagrees with allowing gender-affirming health care services for minors. Walz signed a bill into law last year making Minnesota a refuge for people seeking gender-affirming care.
But then, they were Lutherans.
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“It’s time for a hostage deal and cease-fire that ensures Israel is secure, all hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, freedom, and self-determination,” Walz said on this year’s anniversary of Hamas’ 2023 attacks on Israel.
Polls indicate Minnesota will likely break for Harris, but in states where margins will be much tighter, some protest voters are choosing to vote for Harris despite their reservations.
Roman Fritz of Oconomowoc, Wis., voted early for Harris on Wednesday, he said, even though he remains deeply frustrated with her stance on the war.
Neither he nor Engelhart want to see Trump win. The Uncommitted National Movement has been trying to carve out a middle ground between opposing Trump and supporting Harris, with leaders saying a Trump presidency would be worse for Palestinians, and warning that votes for third-party candidates could result in a win for Trump. But the group declined to offer its endorsement to Harris.
Similarly, Fritz said, he did not feel he should talk his friends into voting for Harris, especially Palestinian American friends who have lost loved ones in Gaza.
“I do want her to win,” Fritz said, but, “I’m not going to campaign for her.”
