By CASEY RYAN VOCK
Contributing Writer
CHAZY —
A Chazy woman who suffered a medical condition behind the wheel of her car Tuesday afternoon drove into a barn at North Country Livestock Exchange, killing several calves.
Veronica E. Rushford, 88, was in a 1997 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight sedan, using the drive-through window at TD Bank at 9679 Route 9 at about 11:30 a.m., according to Chazy-based State Police.
Based on eyewitness accounts from a bank teller and a woman in the car behind Rushford, who saw her head suddenly lean back, police said Rushford apparently passed out and pressed the accelerator.
That sent her car through the parking lot and then about a tenth of a mile west on Bank Street before crashing through a garage door of one of the barns at North Country Livestock Exchange.
Rushford's car struck several calves in the barn, killing two on impact and injuring several others, police said.
Two of the injured calves died from their injuries after the accident, bring the total loss to four.
Rushford, who was still unconscious after the wreck, was transported by ambulance to CVPH Medical Center for treatment.
Police said Rushford sustained minimal injuries from the accident.
But officials at the hospital said Tuesday she was admitted to the hospital in serious condition, noting her condition was not necessarily related to the accident.
Due to the nature of the accident, police said, Rushford was not ticketed.
North Country Livestock Exchange is owned by John and Peggy McCraken. Their son, John McCraken Jr., arrived after the accident from Vermont, where the family owns another business, McCraken Livestock in Saint Albans.
Peggy McCraken said that the approximately 90-foot-long barn housed about 100 calves and 80 head of beef cattle.
She said the four calves that died appeared to be the only animals affected by the wreck.
"We spent the day getting them out of (the damaged barn) and bringing them over here to another barn."
Police said a zoning ordinance officer was sent to the barn in the afternoon to assess the damage.
"It's a public building to some degree because people come inside for the auctions," she said. "It's an old barn. They wanted to be sure that the structure was sound. They also wanted to be sure that the power lines weren't affected."
— Staff Photographer Kelli Catana contributed to this report.
