News: Memorial Bench for Long Island Teen
(Long Island, N.Y.) A bench will be dedicated in Smith Point County Park to a nineteen-year-old from Mastic Beach who was killed a year ago today. The teen was thrown from a motorcycle when her nineteen-year-old fiancé lost control while speeding and trying to evade a police officer. Prior to the incident, the couple had recently learned that she was pregnant.
The incident occurred on the Monday night of May 24th, 2010 at roughly nine-thirty. The couple decided to go for a ride, and reports stated that both had been wearing helmets. The nineteen-year-old from Manorville was driving his 2006 Suzuki motorcycle and was allegedly spotted speeding past an East Hampton Town Police Officer. The officer claimed to have turned on his lights and sirens, attempting to pull him over, but lost sight of the vehicle as it sped between cars.
The officer then radioed in a notice to look for the motorcycle before coming across the scene of the crash several miles down the road. The incident occurred on the Napeague stretch in Amagansett near Dolphin Drive after the vehicle was headed west on Montauk Highway. Reports stated that the driver had been going an estimated 95-115 miles per hour.
After losing control of the motorcycle, he allegedly crossed into the eastbound lane. Both the driver and his pregnant fiancée were ejected from the vehicle before it crashed into a utility pole and shattered into pieces. The young woman was thrown eighty feet and was not breathing when the officer arrived at the scene.
She was taken to Southampton Hospital where she was pronounced dead. The nineteen-year-old driver was treated for collar bone and ankle injuries and showed up to his court appearance limping with a sling. He was also wearing green medical scrubs.
He was held in a Suffolk County Jail in Riverside and charged with the felony of unlawfully fleeing a police officer. Later, a grand jury implemented more severe charges, and he faced the crime of second-degree manslaughter. It was determined that there was enough evidence in the case to suggest that he recklessly caused the death of his fiancée.
He could face between five and fifteen years behind bars for the more severe charges. Other charges against him included aggravated unlicensed driving, operating a motorcycle without a valid inspection sticker, speeding, crossing over a double yellow line, failure to keep right, and overtaking a vehicle on the left. The charge of unlawfully fleeing a police officer, which is normally a misdemeanor, became a felony once it had been correlated with a death.
He was also accused of driving with a suspended license and pleaded not guilty to the charges. The nineteen-year-old victim was a student at Suffolk Community College. According to reports, she had stated on her Facebook page that she knew and loved her fiancé for several years.
