CATTARAUGUS COUNTY
Two arrested over beer in buggy
Two Cattaraugus County residents are under arrest, a 17-year-old Amish youth for drinking beer while driving in his buggy Monday night and a 22-year-old man for providing him with the beer.
Chris D. Slabaugh, 17, of West Road, Conewango, was charged with underage possession of alcohol, accused of drinking beer in his buggy on Route 62 in the Town of Leon at about 11:45 p. m., Cattaraugus County sheriff’s deputies reported.
Deputies also charged Emanuel E. Miller, 22, of Leon-Cherry Creek Road, Conewango Valley, with unlawfully dealing with a child, for providing the youth with the beer.
Sheriff’s officials explained that operation of an Amish buggy doesn’t come under the state’s Vehicle and Traffic Law.
“It’s not a motor vehicle,” Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Capt. Robert Buchhardt said. “The only thing you could charge him with was the possession of alcohol. If you had an Amish [youth], and he was intoxicated and driving the buggy, you couldn’t charge him with DWI. It’s not a motor vehicle.”
That doesn’t mean someone in that hypothetical situation couldn’t be charged with a crime. If a buggy were weaving in and out of traffic, the operator could be charged with reckless endangerment.
In this case, both were given appearance tickets for Town of Leon Court at a later date.
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