A pair of Accord residents who were injured in a fiery car wreck on Route 209 in Kerhonkson on Wednesday were apparently hale and hearty enough to attack EMTs, hospital staff and police at the Ellenville Regional Hospital.
Arrested on felony assault and other charges were 44-year-old Sherri Lynn Murden and 48-year-old Shawn A. Yerkes, both of 297 Whitfield Road in Accord.
Around 10pm on Wednesday, November 21, a Toyota Tacoma with Murden at the wheel struck a Dodge pickup truck, went over a guard rail, struck several parked cars and a telephone pole, then continued up a hill into a wooded area, where it caught fire. Parts from the vehicles struck a building owned by Gaydo's Auto Body, at 6212 Route 209. Ulster County sheriff's deputies responded to a 911 call and found all three of the vehicles' occupants injured: an intoxicated Murden, her passenger Yerkes, and the driver of the Dodge pickup, Brian Langseder.
According to a news release from the Ulster County Sheriff's Office, all three were then transported to Ellenville Regional Hospital, where Yerkes and Murden became violent toward hospital staff, ambulance personnel, Ulster County sheriff's deputies and New York State troopers. A sheriff's deputy and an EMT were injured in the altercation.
Yerkes and Murden both face charges of second-degree felony assault and second-degree obstruction of governmental administration. Murden also faces charges of driving while intoxicated, refusal to submit to a blood test, seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, having a prescription medication outside of the original container, speed not reasonable or prudent, failure to keep right, and operating an unregistered motor vehicle.
Both Murden and Yerkes were issued appearance tickets for the Town of Rochester and the Town of Wawarsing Courts and released to the Ellenville Regional Hospital for treatment of their injuries. Deputies were assisted at the scene and at the hospital by members of the New York State Police Ellenville barracks, the Kerhonkson Accord First Aid Squad, Mobile Life Support Services, and the Accord and Kerhonkson Fire Departments.
