Short cut turned deadly for Maine Soldier at Fort Drum

Short cut turned deadly
Updated: 11/03/2008 04:31 PM
By: Amy Ohler
WATERTOWN, N.Y. -- A short cut for dinner turned deadly Sunday evening for one Fort Drum soldier. According to Jefferson County Sheriff John Burns, two soldiers, Justin Kennie of Maine and Jason Wood of Texas, decided to walk across Interstate 81 from the Salmon Run Mall. Burns says the two were headed to Buffalo Wild Wings. Once in the south bound lane, a car struck Kennie, killing him on impact. That incident then sparked two other wrecks involving four vehicles.



"Basically, it was due to people paying attention too much to what was going on in the opposite lane of travel and not paying enough attention to driving their vehicle," said Darrin Pitkin, State Police Captain.



Seven people were injured in the accidents. Six were transported to Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown. Donald McNeil was transported to Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse for critical injuries.

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