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Yates man charged with vehicular assault

A Yates County man faces several charges, including two felonies, over a 2016 crash that seriously injured a retired Penn Yan school official.

Evan Cota, 23, of Jerusalem, was arraigned Tuesday in county court on felony charges of second-degree vehicular assault and second-degree assault. He also faces misdemeanor charges of driving while ability impaired by drugs and criminal mischief, as well as unlawful possession of marijuana (a violation).

The charges stem from a July 8, 2016, crash in the town of Benton. Yates County deputies said at about 7 p.m. that day, Cota ran a stop sign on Ferguson Corners Road and hit a vehicle on Gorham Road driven by Richard “Dick” Shaver of Benton.

Shaver was a longtime teacher in the Penn Yan school system and the district’s director of student support services before retiring several years ago.

He was taken by Mercy Flight after the crash to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester where he was treated for serious injuries and released after an extended stay in the hospital.

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