Police in Leslie County, Kentucky says that one woman has been killed in a crash involving several people watching the eclipse. The driver, 38-year-old Alyssa Noble, was speeding when she crashed into a telephone pole flipping her vehicle in the process. Noble was flown by a medical helicopter to Holsten Valley Hospital.
Police say that Noble hit several pedestrians in the crash including 23-year-old Mackenzie Hayes who was pronounced dead at the scene. Mackenzie was an employee of a Primary Care near the scene of the accident. Rhonda Belcher was also struck by Noble's vehicle and was airlifted to Holsten Valley Hospital as well. Police have special accident reconstruction units at the scene working to determine exactly what happened. Leslie County Police believe that Mackenzie and Belcher were watching the solar eclipse when they were struck by Noble's speeding vehicle. The eclipse occurred for the first time in 99 years and passed through portions of 14 of the United States.
Viewing required special glasses that toned down the brightness of the sun. It is likely that glasses like these would obstruct your vision around you and if you were looking up you might not have noticed an out of control car speeding toward you. Kentucky was one of the states that could see the eclipse, in fact, it is the only state with the longest viewing time of the moon covering the son. Thousands of people poured into the state Monday to view the eclipse, Mackenzie is the only fatality related to the eclipse at this time.
