WLEA radio
HORNELL, NY – A major local story has been developing since Saturday morning, that has been talked about extensively on Facebook locally. Here is what we can tell you about it. On Saturday morning, a listener called our radio station and said that there were lots of law enforcement vehicles at St. James Hospital in Hornell. About an hour or two later, people started posting on Facebook about how a body was seen lying on Route 36, in the South Hornell area. By Sunday, area residents started circulating a Facebook posting from a woman who said that her brother, Matthew Cole, was found in the median on Route 36, and has had to have brain surgery at Strong Memorial Hospital, and to please pray for him.
This is what was on Matthew Cole’s Facebook page, by Sunday afternoon:
“Please….please please….say prayers and put my brother Matthew Cole on your prayer chains. He was life flighted to Strong Memorial this afternoon. He underwent a 3 hour surgery to remove a huge hematoma in his brain and to relieve pressure. He was found on the median in the road, looks as though he fell and hit his head. Details are unclear as to what happened. He is in critical condition and has a long road ahead of him.
Thank you in advance. He needs as many prayers as he can get.”
Hornell Police Chief Ted Murray says that Hornell Police Patrols found a man lying in the median on Saturday morning before 6 a.m. Hornell Police Chief Murray says that after calling the Hornell Fire Department in for an ambulance, Hornell Police then turned the case over to the Sheriff’s Office, because that area on Route 36 is their jurisdiction.
As of this posting, the sheriff’s department has not released a statement about this incident.
Strong Memorial Hospital says that they have a Matthew Cole as a patient, and that he was in guarded condition as of this posting on Sunday evening.
