By Michael T. Baldwin
A Fillmore man was fatally injured late Friday afternoon when the vehicle he was operating struck a utility police on East Hillside Road in the Wyoming County Town of Pike. Wyoming County Sheriff’s deputies said 44-year-old Thomas G. Hartman died at the scene.
A front seat passenger, Austin T. Hartman-age 21 of Pike, was ejected from the vehicle. Hartman was flown to a trauma center in Erie County via Mercy Flight and is being treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
The Sheriff’s Office Crash Management Team is conducting the investigation. The preliminary investigation and crash data indicates Thomas Hartman was travelling eastbound in his 2000 GMC pickup on East Hillside Road, left the south side of the roadway and came back onto the road, left the north side of the roadway, striking a utility pole.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation. Assisting at the scene were members of the Wyoming County Crash Management Team, Pike Fire Department, Bliss Fire Department, Mercy Ambulance, Wyoming County Coroner Michael Smith and Mercy Flight.
