Two men killed in separate Lewis County snowmobile accidents

Two snowmobilers were killed as the result of separate snowmobile accidents that occurred within about 14 hours of each other in Lewis County over the weekend.

In the first one, a Canastota man died about 12:30 p.m. Saturday on snow trail C4A, south of Kraeger Road in the town of West Turin.

Edward Kohles, 56, of Canastota, was thrown off his sled about 12:30 p.m. and was hit by another snowmobile heading in the opposite direction, state police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

State police are continuing their investigation. No other details were available.

In the other accident, Daniel M. Leonard, 34, Berkshire, was killed at about 2:36 a.m. when he was operating his 2009 Polaris Dragon SP 800 cc on Trail C5, and he failed to negotiate a curve, Lewis County Sheriff investigators said.

The snowmobile left the trail — also known as Mile Strip Access Road — before Mr. Leonard was ejected from the sled and he struck a tree, investigators said. He was operating the snowmobile two abreast with another sled when the crash happened, they said.