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Thursday, July 03, 2008

Moriarty Boy Killed in Alabama Car Crash


Telegraph Staff Report
      An 11-year-old Moriarty boy was killed and his 9-year-old brother was clinging to life following a collision near Dothan, Ala., on Sunday involving a church bus from Kentucky and a pickup truck driven by the boys' mother, KOAT-TV and an Alabama newspaper reported.
    Rippen Upton, 11, died early Monday, and his 9-year-old brother Brody Upton remained in critical condition Tuesday at a hospital in Dothan, where the boys' mother, Crystal Finnegan of Columbus, Ga., also was hospitalized for injuries received in the crash, according to Tuesday's Dothan (Ala.) Eagle.
    The boys live with their father in Moriarty and had been on a two-week visit with their mother when the accident occurred around 2 p.m. Sunday, the Eagle reported on Monday.
    According to police, the pickup truck driven by Finnegan appeared to hydroplane and veered into an oncoming lane, striking one of the church buses in a three-bus convoy with middle school girls from Kentucky, the paper reported.
    Dothan Police Sgt. Tim Ward told the Eagle that Finnegan told police that her pickup was on cruise control set for 75 mph prior to the accident, but the posted speed limit was 50 mph.
    No formal charges had been filed pending an investigation, the paper reported.
    Meanwhile, the boys' father, Wendell Upton, has flown from New Mexico to be with his 9-year-old son, who is fighting for his life, Action 7 News and the Alabama paper reported.
    A student, an adult counselor and another adult riding in the church bus also were hospitalized in the accident, but their injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.
   

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