Sentenced for Manslaughter

Allison J. Rydberg, a 26-year-old Hampton Bays woman who pleaded guilty in November to vehicular manslaughter for the death in a one-car accident last April of 24-year-old Jason H. Pollak of Water Mill, was sentenced on Tuesday by Acting State Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho to 2 to 7 years in prison following an emotional proceeding in his Central Islip courtroom.

Three of Mr. Pollak’s relatives addressed the court before sentencing, including his father, Andrew Pollak, according to Ms. Rydberg’s attorney, Tad M. Scharfenberg. “When he spoke, it was hard for me to hold it together,” Mr. Scharfenberg said. “He was so eloquent. This is a man who has been crushed. They were more than father and son. They were the best of friends.”

Since losing his son, Mr. Scharfenberg said, Mr. Pollak has been diagnosed with throat and neck cancer. The younger Mr. Pollak had worked with his father in a family business, Railex, a refrigerated foods shipping company.

The fatal accident happened on Flying Point Road, near the intersection of County Road 39 and Montauk Highway, on April 19 at about 2:37 a.m. The two had been drinking at a bar, Mr. Scharfenberg said, when they got into Ms. Rydberg’s 1997 Toyota Avalon. They were headed toward the highway when the car left the road, and crashed into a tree and shrubbery. Mr. Pollak was taken to Southampton Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Ms. Rydberg was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital in critical condition.

Mr. Pollak was a popular surfer, who was remembered in a ceremony off W. Scott Cameron Beach in Bridgehampton several days after his death. The website for the Flying Point Surf School describes the event. “Carrying flowers, the group of roughly 40 locals paddled into the water, where they formed a circle as hundreds of spectators on the beach looked on silently.” The surfers held hands, motionless in the water.

After Mr. Pollak’s family addressed the court on Tuesday, Ms. Rydberg read from a prepared statement. “The few memories I have of that tragic night play over and over in my head, and I still struggle to understand how I behaved,” she said. “If given a choice, I would have gladly traded places with Jason, but I was not given that choice, and I cannot take back the horrible result of my actions.”

Even with good behavior, Ms. Rydberg will not be eligible for release until at least the minimum is served, according to Mr. Scharfenberg. “I hope, I pray, really and truly, that the Pollak family can find a way to heal,” he said.