In the early hours of a crisp August morning, the small town of LeRoy, New York, was shaken by a devastating accident that claimed the lives of two young souls from Apopka, Florida. The serene intersection of West Bergen and Griswold roads, typically a place of routine comings and goings, became the scene of an unthinkable tragedy on Friday, August 22, 2025, just before 6:20 a.m.
The Genesee County Sheriff’s Office responded swiftly to reports of a catastrophic collision, their sirens cutting through the dawn’s stillness. At the heart of the incident was 20-year-old Brianna R. Welsh, who was behind the wheel of a 2014 Nissan sedan, traveling westbound on Griswold Road. According to the sheriff’s preliminary investigation, Brianna tragically failed to stop at a stop sign, a momentary lapse that led to a catastrophic collision with a 2018 Ford dump truck and trailer combination barreling northbound on West Bergen Road.
The dump truck, operated by 36-year-old Timothy E. Briggs of Piffard, New York, was hauling a heavy load, its sheer mass and momentum no match for the smaller sedan. The impact was catastrophic. Brianna and her passenger, 20-year-old Mallen A. Mello, also of Apopka, Florida, suffered fatal injuries and were pronounced dead at the scene. The weight of their loss hangs heavy over their families, friends, and the communities they touched in both Florida and New York.
Miraculously, Timothy Briggs emerged from the wreckage unharmed, though undoubtedly shaken by the sudden and violent turn of events. The sheriff’s office has not reported any additional injuries, correcting earlier mentions of another individual being harmed, which appear to have been based on preliminary and unconfirmed information.
The intersection of West Bergen and Griswold roads, now etched with the sorrow of this tragedy, remains under scrutiny as the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office continues its meticulous investigation. Deputies, alongside the Genesee County Coroner’s Office, New York State Police, LeRoy Police Department, LeRoy Fire Department, and Bergen Fire Department, worked tirelessly at the scene, piecing together the sequence of events that led to this heartbreaking outcome. Authorities are delving into every detail—road conditions, vehicle mechanics, and human factors—to understand why this accident occurred and how such losses might be prevented in the future.
For the tight-knit community of LeRoy, this crash serves as a stark reminder of life’s fragility and the importance of vigilance on the road. For the families of Brianna Welsh and Mallen Mello, it is an unimaginable loss, a wound that time may never fully heal. As the investigation unfolds, the community mourns, holding close the memory of two young lives extinguished far too soon, their dreams and futures forever altered at a quiet country intersection.
