By ANDREA VanVALKENBURG
WAVERLY — Friends and family remember Chris Macey as a down-to-earth type of person and “jack of all trades.”
When not staying busy with work at his garage, Macey’s Auto Repair, the Morrisonville man spent much of his time outside, enjoying his many hobbies.
In the winter months, snowmobiling was his usual activity of choice, and it was during one of those outings that his life ended midday Thursday.
The 53-year-old was riding with a group of snowmobilers on a remote section of Blue Mountain Road around 11:15 a.m. when he round a sharp curve and crashed into an oncoming dump truck.
Police said the dump-truck driver, Earl F. Bono, 57, of Winthrop, had approached the bend at the same time and that Macey was unable to avoid crashing into the back of the rig as it passed.
The mechanic was killed when he was thrown from his 2009 sled. Macey was wearing a helmet, police said.
He was pronounced dead at Alice Hyde Medical Center in Malone, where Dr. Leonardo Dishman determined that he died of a lacerated aorta caused by the crash.
His death has been ruled accidental.
The accident happened on an extremely rural section of the road, about 10 miles south of Route 458.
On Friday, Schuyler Falls Town Supervisor Harold Ormsby recalled Macey, a lifelong local resident, as a “good guy” who sometimes did maintenance work on town vehicles.
During those repairs, Macey often spoke with highway employees, who were shocked by the local father’s death when they heard the news Friday morning.
Police did not release specific details about the accident until this morning.
No tickets have been issued, and the investigation is continuing.
E-mail Andrea VanValkenburg at:
avanvalkenburg@pressrepublican.com
