An upstate New York woman died in a head-on crash on a Hudson Valley highway, state police said Tuesday.
Sierra Fatima Koren Thornton, 25, of Middletown, was a passenger in a 2019 Mercedes-Benz that collided with a 2021 Ford pickup truck on State Route 209 around 5:30 p.m. Monday, police said in a news release.
The crash happened in the town of Hurley when the driver of the Mercedes, 47-year-old Hawanatu I. Deen-Ayers, attempted to pass another vehicle while traveling southbound on the highway, “crossing over the broken yellow centerline into the northbound lane,” according to a preliminary investigation.
The driver of the Ford, 60-year-old David W. Lincoln, of Accord, N.Y., was traveling northbound and maneuvered his vehicle onto the eastern shoulder in an attempt to avoid a collision, investigators said.
At the same time, the Mercedes-Benz also entered the eastern shoulder, “where it struck the Ford pickup head-on,” state troopers said.
Deen-Ayers, Lincoln, and a 63-year-old unnamed woman in the pickup truck were able to exit the vehicles, according to police. They were transported to Benedictine Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Koren Thornton was trapped inside the Mercedes-Benz and had to be extricated by emergency personnel.
She was taken to Kingston HealthAlliance Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
The investigation remains ongoing, officials said. No charges had been filed as of Tuesday morning.
Anyone with information about the crash is urged to contact state police at Middletown by calling (845) 344-5300 and referencing RMS# NY2500814897.
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