Woman dies after being hit by a USPS van in Western NY

East Aurora, NY – A woman has died after she was struck by a mail delivery vehicle while crossing a street in Upstate New York last weekend.

The accident happened Sunday morning in East Aurora, a village about 30 minutes southeast of Buffalo.

Mary E. Kerwin was crossing Main Street at Olean Road at 10:02 a.m. when she was struck by a United States Postal Service vehicle, East Aurora police said in a news release. At the time of the crash, the van was turning right onto Main Street from Olean Road, police said.

Kerwin was flown by Mercy Flight to Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo, where she later died, police said. She was 79 years old.

The East Aurora woman lived in an apartment at 702 Main St., police said — a building near the intersection where she was fatally injured.

East Aurora Police Chief Patrick Welch told WIVB that the USPS worker appeared to have been driving slowly when Kerwin was struck.

“It’s early in the investigation, but based on witnesses who were there and saw it happen and the operator of the mail vehicle, we believe this situation actually appears to be just a terrible accident,” Welch said. .

Police said the USPS driver, who was not immediately identified, was “fully cooperative” after the crash.

The accident is still under investigation.

East Aurora officers were assisted at the scene of the accident by the Erie County Sheriff’s Office Accident Investigation Unit.