ASHTABULA COUNTY -- A seven-year-old Amish boy was killed and his three brothers critically injured when their buggy was struck by a van on a rural road Thursday morning.

Gary Roth, 23, of North Bloomfield, was eastbound on Meade Hollow Road near Orwell when he ran a stop sign and crashed into a horse drawn buggy carrying four brothers on their way to school.

Roth said he didn't see the stop sign or the buggy because he was blinded by the rising sun.

He slammed on the brakes, but his Dodge van hit the buggy broadside with both vehicles and all occupants winding up in a farm field across from the crash site.

Killed was seven-year-old Myron Miller. His brothers, 13-year-old Aden, 11-year-old Marlin, and nine-year-old Nathaniel are in critical condition at Cleveland's Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital.

The boys were on their way to an Amish school about two miles from their home.

According to Ohio State Patrol Ashtabula Post Commander Lt. Mike Harmon, Roth gave his consent to taking a blood test for alcohol or drugs. He faces a charge of vehicular homicide. If driving under the influence, he would face the felony charge of aggravated vehicular homicide.

Lt. Harmon said, in his county, this is the third death of an Amish resident in a traffic accident this year. He called on motorists to be more watchful for slow-moving buggies on the rural roads of Ashtabula County