Kathy Groshans was killed by wrong-way driver Brian O’Leary: police
A grandmother in upstate New York was killed Monday when a pickup truck driver, who drove the wrong direction during a police chase, collided head-on with the car she and her family were in, authorities said.
Kathy Groshans, 47, has been pronounced dead after Brian O’Leary, 37, drove his Ford F-150 into the 2019 Dodge Ram being driven by her husband Dale Groshans, 66, on Interstate 87 in Lewis , the state police said.
Her two young grandsons, 4 and 7, were flown by plane to the University of Vermont Medical Center across the border in Burlington after initially being rushed to a hospital in Plattsburg for internal injuries, New York State Police said.
Dale Groshans was also taken to the hospital with a head injury. They are all in stable condition now.
The ugly accident capped a police chase that began when callers alerted authorities around 7:39 p.m. to a pickup truck going the wrong way in Essex County, police said.
They determined that O’Leary was still driving north in the southbound lanes, police said. When police officers tried to stop him, he continued driving, which led to a pursuit.
O’Leary drove about 30 miles against traffic before colliding head-on with the Groshans’ truck, police said.
“Kathy Jo, you were a beautiful soul with one of the biggest and kindest hearts that ever lived. I am heartbroken without you, you were the best sister I could have ever asked for,” her grieving sister, Lacey Boyea LaCourse, wrote on Facebook News from the Sun community.
“I will miss you until my last breath. I just don’t know what else to say; I don’t know what to do without you.”
According to her autopsy, Groshans died of bleeding from fractures sustained from blunt force trauma.
A donation page has been set up for her husband and two children, as well as for funeral expenses.
O’Leary, a resident of East Millinocket, Maine, was also airlifted to the University of Vermont Medical Center with life-threatening injuries, including a head injury and internal injuries. He is listed in critical condition.
He was in possession of a loaded handgun during the pursuit, which he was not authorized to carry in New York, authorities said.
The investigation into the accident continues as authorities process a series of search warrants for the vehicles, electronic devices and biological evidence, state police said.
