Wild Chase on Highway
Frederic Stephens Jr., 20, of East Hampton was shot in the right arm last Thursday night at a house on Springs-Fireplace Road, leading to what East Hampton Village Police Chief Gerald Larsen termed a “dangerous” and “reckless” car chase along Montauk Highway to Southampton Hospital.
The driver of the car, a woman identified yesterday as Kimberly M. Delrio, 22, of Springs, is facing arraignment on three charges, including reckless endangerment, a felony.
A village officer first spotted the speeding vehicle on Newtown Lane and followed it along Gingerbread Lane toward Montauk Highway. It was the first night of the long Memorial Day weekend.
The officer radioed for backup and began to pursue the car, catching up to it at the American gas station on Toilsome Lane. The driver had pulled off the road, trying to jockey past the dense traffic by driving through the station, only to become trapped by cars pulling away from the pumps.
“Stephens got out and said, ‘I’ve been shot, I’ve been shot!’ ” Det. Lt. Anthony Long said on Tuesday. While the officer radioed for an ambulance, however, Mr. Stephens got back in the car and it sped away.
“There were two village officers trying to stop the car,” Detective Long continued. Not knowing whether the occupants were armed, he said, they had to proceed with caution.
“It is unbelievable how reckless the driver was,” Detective Long said. “It’s important the public understands that yes, there is someone injured in the car, but this was an awful dangerous way to get to the hospital.” The detective has watched the videotape of the pursuit and found it extremely disturbing. “Thank God nobody got killed,” he said.
There was a second couple in the car that night whom police have not yet identified. The investigation is ongoing, according to Det. Lieut. Christopher Anderson of the town police.
The officers following the speeding car radioed ahead, allowing Southampton police to clear a path for it as best they could. Once at the hospital, after Mr. Stephens was admitted, village police detained Ms. Delrio. She was turned over to town police when it became clear that the shooting had occurred in their jurisdiction.
Earlier this month, Mr. Stephens pleaded guilty to a first-time offense of driving while intoxicated. His father, also Frederic Stephens, was convicted of multiple drug-related felonies in 2009 and is currently serving time in Franklin Correctional Facility in Monroe, N.Y. He will be eligible for parole in October 2014. East Hampton Town police said at the time that the Sept. 5, 2008, arrest of the elder Mr. Stephens was deemed to have made a major dent in drugs in the East Hampton area.