Gene Laney could do nothing but pray that the treads of a farm tractor didn't roll over his car and crush him and his companion to death during a horrifying scene on Lewiston Road and Main Street Tuesday evening.
"We were going downtown. It was a simple trip and then we saw this big tractor in the rear-view mirror," Laney said. "I saw it clip a car right in front of the fire department."
Laney stopped his Ford Focus at the red light at Main Street and "all of a sudden I heard the boom-boom and I got pushed into two cars ahead of me.
"I got spun around and cars shot everywhere. Then he made a turn and he caught me sideways."
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For the next two minutes Laney and his passenger, Darlene Kingdollar, could do nothing but ride it out.
The two were caught in a bizarre scene that began at My-T-Acres Farm shortly before 6 p.m.
Genesee County sheriff's investigators said the operator of the tractor, Neil W. Phelps, 55, an employee of My-T-Acres, had just finished his day working the fields with a massive cultivator with wide, rubber treads, similar to the treads of a tank.
"He parked the tractor, got out and then got back in and took off down Route 63," Chief Deputy Gordon Dibble said.
Phelps drove into the first car at the intersection of Veterans Memorial Drive, rear-ending a car and pushing it out of the way, Dibble said. He then sideswiped a Jeep Cherokee at the Park Road intersection and continued to Main Street, where he slammed into a Dodge with a couple and two children inside.
"The driver of the Jeep slammed on the gas to get away and hit a fourth car in the process," Dibble said.
Phelps then hit the rear of Laney's Ford Focus.
"That gets pushed down Main Street, with people standing there all waving their arms trying to get this guy to stop," Dibble said.
Genesee County Emergency Management Services Coordinator Timothy Yaeger happened to be driving to Batavia Town Fire Department for a meeting when he heard on his radio that a tractor had slammed into cars.
"I got to River Street and saw the tractor," he said. "I lifted my sunglasses up because I couldn't believe my eyes. The next few minutes were one of the most stressful times I can remember in my 23 years."
Yaeger saw the Ford being pushed along Main Street with two people trapped inside.
He also could see Phelps at the controls.
"I knew by the look in his eyes that something was not right," Yaeger said. "He just stared straight ahead. I put my lights on and pulled in front of him but it didn't faze him a bit."
Yaeger slammed his truck into reverse when he realized Phelps wasn't going to stop.
Town Deputy Fire Chief Paul Barrett was at Barrett's Marine shop and he, too, saw the scene and took off in his truck to stop traffic, Yaeger said.
"Law enforcement was on its way and I just kept thinking 'How do you stop this guy?' My fear was that the car was going to get hung up and the tractor would go up and over and crush these two people. The stress level was extremely high."
Meanwhile, Laney and Kingdollar were holding on for dear life.
"I'm trying to do something to stop or get out of the way," Laney said. "I'm going 6, or 7 miles per hour by the sporting goods place (Barrett's) and my windows are shattering and I could hear the tires blow. I couldn't stop or shift."
Laney and Kingdollar could see people trying to stop Phelps.
"I kept waiting for this thing to go over the top of us," he said. "But I gotta hand it to Ford, the passenger box held up for us."
An unidentified man jumped on the tractor and climbed to the cab.
"He was pounding on the cab and finally got him to take his foot off the gas," Laney said. "His hand was all bloody and then he took off. I don't know who he was but he's a hero."
Laney and Kingdollar were able to get out of the car. Glass was everywhere.
Phelps, he said, "looked strange and in a daze."
Laney and Kingdollar suffered cuts and bruises and were treated at United Memorial Medical Center.
Phelps, who lives in Caledonia, was taken to UMMC and then transferred to an unknown hospital for mental health evaluation, Dibble said.
"Deputies talk to My-T-Acres people and by all accounts, he was a good employee and this was totally out-of-character," he said. "He just finished his day and they said he got out and just went back in the tractor and took off."
Police are consulting with the District Attorney's Office to see what charges will be placed against Phelps.
Laney and Kingdollar were home this morning, still assessing the damage to the car and the possibility of what "could have happened."
"It was a strange feeling," Laney said. "You're in a car and see these big treads coming at you. It was an amazing thing. I thought we were dead and there was no getting out of it."
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