Prison Bound for Route 114 Crash

William C. Hurley of Sag Harbor, who admitted to being drunk when his pickup truck hit a BMW driving in the opposite direction on Route 114 last year, injuring the driver and her 6-year-old son, was sentenced on Tuesday to two years in state prison.

Mr. Hurley, 62, had been driving north in his 2003 Toyota pickup last July. His truck swerved across lane lines, colliding with a 2006 BMW driven by Elizabeth Krimendahl, whose 6-year-old son, Thadeus, was in the backseat. Dr. Krimendahl suffered a broken ankle in the crash, while the left side of her son's skull was fractured.

Mr. Hurley pleaded guilty in January to multiple charges stemming from the accident, including two felony counts of vehicular assault — one for each victim — two misdemeanor charges of driving while intoxicated, misdemeanor reckless driving, and a felony charge of recklessly causing a serious injury. At the time, he was the owner of Peconic Beverages on Pantigo Road in East Hampton. He had been facing seven years.

His sentencing had been put off twice previously, once in April, to allow him to get his affairs in order before being incarcerated, then again several weeks later, when he fell off a ladder and badly broke his leg. Despite an attempt by his attorney, Edward Burke Jr., to get one more adjournment on Tuesday, Melissa Turk of the district attorney's office argued in the judge's chambers against any further delay, and Justice Fernando Camacho agreed with her.

Mr. Hurley sat alternately in the courtroom, hands in prayer position, head bowed, and in the hallway on a bench with his wife and several friends and family members who had come to courthouse to support him. Dr. Krimendahl said to her attorney, Kevin M. Fox, that she did not know what Mr. Hurley looked like. Tuesday would be the only time in the 15 months since the accident that two would actually see each other.

When a clerk called out that it was time for his sentencing, Mr. Hurely rose to stand before Justice Camacho, walking with a cane.

Speaking to the court, Dr. Krimendahl described the physical and mental wreckage the accident had caused. After the collision, in the early evening of July 6, 2013, she said, she was separated from her son by the medical crews responding to the accident. She was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital while he was taken to Southampton Hospital, before also being taken to Stony Brook.

When she heard he was at Stony Brook, she asked to be brought to him, she said. Thadeeus was unconscious, she told the court, and his left eye was swollen out the size of a tennis ball. "I held his hand, and said goodbye. I wasn't sure I would ever see him again," she said.

He was taken then to Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, where two surgeons operated at the same time, one reconstructing his eye socket, the other reconstructing his skull, using metal plates, screws, and rods.

She described the recovery process, which is still ongoing, and the sensation of feeling a metal plate and screws underneath his skin when she would touch his forehead. She said that her son refused to get a haircut for six months, and had constant nightmares. Frequently, she said, he would lash out at her.

"My son learned something that no 6-year-old should ever learn — that his mother can't protect him," she said.

Mr. Hurley addressed the court, as well. "I will try to speak from my heart, through my mouth, without the interference of my brain," he said. "How do I apologize to Dr. Krimendahl and her son? Words don't suffice." He said he has been in treatment since the accident. "I am a better man. I had to injure these two people I didn't know," he said. "What satisfaction does Dr. Krimendahl get because I am a better man? How do I apologize?"

He said that since the accident at least a half dozen of his former customers (he recently sold the distributorship, but has stayed on as an employee) have come to him and said that they had changed their behavior after seeing what he went through.

Justice Camacho started his pre-sentence talk addressing Dr. Krimendahl directly. "I wish you and your son the best. I pray for you," he said. To Mr. Hurley, he said, "I wish we could take a tape of what you just said, put it on loudspeakers, and play it from Montauk to the other end of Suffolk County," he said. "Good luck, Mr. Hurley."

After Mr. Hurley signed some papers, a guard took his cane away from him and opened a side door. She held it open as Mr. Hurley turned and blew a kiss to his family. He was then handcuffed and led away.

Dr. Krimendahl's attorney said afterwards that a civil lawsuit to recover damages has been launched against both Mr. Hurley and Peconic Beverages in State Supreme Court in Riverhead.

Mr. Burke said afterwards that his client will be assigned to a New York State correctional facility over the next few weeks.

Correction: Mr. Hurley was sentenced to two years, not two to four years as previously reported. The Star regrets the error.