A 20-year-old motorcyclist died Nov. 4 after a car pulled into his path at the intersection of State Route 20 and Madison Street in Sangerfield, and less than 24 hours later, a second crash struck the very same spot. Evan Downen, of Oriskany Falls, was airlifted from the scene with serious, life-threatening injuries and died later that evening, according to the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies responded to what they described as a personal injury motor vehicle accident at 1:10 p.m. that Wednesday, according to the Utica Observer Dispatch. The sheriff’s office says 68-year-old Kenneth Northrop, of Waterville, was driving a 2025 Mitsubishi south on Madison Street and stopped at the intersection with Route 20 before attempting to cross onto Newberry Road, striking Downen’s westbound 2006 Suzuki motorcycle in the process, per a statement from the Oneida County Sheriff's Office.
Downen was ejected from the motorcycle and suffered serious, life-threatening injuries, the sheriff’s office reported. Members of the Waterville Volunteer Fire Department, paramedics from the Central Oneida County Ambulance Corps, and Mercy Flight paramedics all treated him at the scene before Mercy Flight airlifted him to SUNY Upstate Medical Center. An earlier report from CNY Central, citing initial information, had described Downen only as seriously injured and airlifted with serious injuries — before his death was confirmed later that evening.
A Second Crash Hits the Same Corner
The Oriskany Falls Volunteer Fire Department, the Central Oneida County Ambulance Corps, Mercy Flight, and the New York State Department of Transportation all assisted the sheriff’s office at the scene, and the crash investigation remains ongoing.
Less than a day later, the same intersection was the site of another collision. According to the Rome Sentinel, a 17-year-old driver heading south on Madison Street stopped at the stop sign at Route 20 around 10:41 a.m. Thursday, then attempted to cross the highway onto Newberry Road, pulling in front of an eastbound 2013 Chevy Impala, which crashed into the teen's 1988 Ford Ranger. Three people were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries in that crash, which the paper noted occurred in nearly the same manner as the fatal crash less than 24 hours earlier.
A Stop Sign on a Divided Highway
The Rome Sentinel also reported that the Madison Street intersection is controlled only by a stop sign, while that stretch of Route 20 is a divided highway — a detail that underscores why drivers crossing from Madison Street onto Newberry Road face a tricky maneuver across multiple lanes of highway traffic. No additional findings on road design changes or further enforcement at the intersection have been reported.
