‘What Good Could Possibly Come From This?
Lying in a hospital bed in her family’s house in East Hampton, Crystal Hayes started to say her life was ruined the day she and her boyfriend, Christopher King, were hit by an allegedly inebriated driver as they stood on the side of Sunrise Highway, next to their car, on Aug. 6. But she stopped herself.
“I don’t want to say it has ruined my life. I hope it hasn’t,” she said.
She suffered broken legs, a shattered pelvis, broken ribs, and a broken jaw that was wired shut for weeks. Nearly three months and seven surgeries later, the 34-year-old still cannot walk.
“I hope that I come out of this and I’m stronger, and I can do everything I did before,” she said in an interview last Thursday. “But when I’m sitting here and all I’m doing is thinking and I just have all this time on my hands, it really makes it hard to think of any good that could possibly come out of this.”
Medical bills are piling up, and she is overwhelmed and scared just thinking about how they will pay them, she said. With everyday expenses too much for their families to keep up with, a fund-raiser will be held for the couple on Saturday at the American Legion Hall in Amagansett. Starting at 7:30, the evening will feature karaoke, dancing, raffles, and a cash bar. Admission is $20.
On that fateful Saturday in August, according to state police, Ulyana Yaremko, a 20-year-old nursing assistant who lives in Hampton Bays, lost control and skidded sideways, hitting Ms. Hayes and Mr. King at about 11:40 a.m. They were standing on the south side of the highway, between Exit 65 in Hampton Bays and Exit 64 in East Quogue. They had stopped when they saw smoke and flames in the woods on the opposite side of the road. They said they thought there had been an accident. It turned out to be a raging brush fire. Ms. Yaremko was charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs, a misdemeanor.
On Monday, a Suffolk grand jury returned an indictment, elevating the charges against Ms. Yaremko to vehicular assault in the first degree, according to online court records. Free on $10,000 bail on the initial charge, she will be arraigned on the new charges in Suffolk County Criminal Court on Nov. 14.
The name of Ms. Yaremko’s new attorney has not been released. Carl Irace, who represented her at her first arraignment and has reviewed the facts of the case, said, “It is very unfortunate that two people were seriously injured, and our community feels badly for both of them. They certainly deserve our community’s support. However, I am unaware of the existence of facts that would prove criminality or that this was anything other than a terrible accident.”
The new charges bring Ms. Hayes little solace. She admits that she is not only in pain physically, but also grappling with the emotional toll of such an accident.
“There’s a lot of depression and sadness and anger. I’m trying to just break through that,” she said. A former drug counselor, she said she feels for Ms. Yaremko on one hand, but what upsets her is that she drove under the influence, based on information given to her by the detectives investigating. “What bothers me is she made the decision to get into a car that day.”
An advocate for victims of drunken driving got in touch with the couple recently to facilitate therapy. “I feel like I need it,” Ms. Hayes said.
She has not received any information, through the press, police, or prosecutors, that Ms. Yaremko is remorseful. “I’m angry that she’s not taking responsibility for the fact that she almost killed me and injured two people. She doesn’t seem to understand the magnitude of what she’s done.”
Ms. Hayes is just now coming to terms with it all. It was not until two weeks after the fact that she found out exactly what had happened. “The first two weeks are almost like an out-of-body experience. It doesn’t really feel real. Maybe it was the fact that I was in a fog from all the medications, or maybe it’s the fact that I was in shock,” she said.
Of the accident and the immediate aftermath, she recalls only snippets. She remembers taking out her cellphone to call 911 about the fire and then hearing “a screeching noise” and seeing a car come at her sideways. She came to on the ground as emergency personnel were cutting her clothes off and tending to her. She knows she was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital, but does not remember it. Doctors told her that if she had not received such care right away she might have lost her right leg.
She woke up in the hospital days later, after having been brought out of a medically induced coma.
Mr. King, a Sag Harbor native who is 39, was also knocked unconscious. His pelvis was broken, and he suffered a concussion and an injury to his back, for which he is still receiving medical treatment.
“He’s in a lot of pain,” Ms. Hayes said while Mr. King took one of the many calls they receive from insurance companies.
Even though he is in pain, “He’s probably my number-one helper. He does everything for me,” she said. Her wounds need attention. Her back, where her pelvis had to be fused to her spine, has split open twice. Skin grafting on her legs is still healing. Mr. King helps her get to the bathroom and with bathing.
“I never really expected to have to rely on Chris for all these things, especially now — maybe when we were 90, but not right now.”
Money is tight. The no-fault car insurance ran out almost immediately with her first operation, Ms. Hayes said. An attorney is helping sort out the insurance. A GoFundMe account that was set up in the days after the accident raised $5,490 to date, but it has yet to be used, as they wait for their attorney to figure out what they owe.
Their families are helping as much as they can with the day-to-day cost of living. Her mother is even paying $150 a month to rent a wheelchair ramp for the house. Saturday’s fund-raiser will help them with living expenses.
The support they have received from the community is “beyond my imagination,” Ms. Hayes said. “I really appreciate the support.”