Child Fatally Injured | The East Hampton Star

A 6-year-old girl died on Sunday morning after being struck by a car on Blank Lane in Water Mill. The child, Tess Burstein, was declared dead at Stony Brook University Hospital, where she had been rushed by ambulance after first being taken to Southampton Hospital.

According to Southampton Detective Sgt. Lisa Costa, Tess’s condition was initially thought to have stabilized, but she regressed. The detective would not specify the nature of her injuries other than to describe them as “trauma.”

The driver of the Toyota Prius that struck the girl, Maurice Wittenberg, a 76-year-old Water Mill neighbor, was not ticketed. Mr. Wittenberg had one passenger in the car, his wife, Harriet Wittenberg. Neither was injured. Police impounded the Toyota for a safety inspection, as is routine in accidents involving fatalities.

“We have done a preliminary investigation,” Detective Costa said yesterday. “It appears to be accidental in nature.” The accident occurred at about 10:50 a.m., she said.

The child’s parents, Annabel Vered and Josef Burstein, live on Blank Lane and in Manhattan.

“It is very sad. It has affected the entire community,” the detective said.

Long Days on the Fire Line In Orange County

East Hampton and Amagansett firefighters volunteered to head north last week to help fight a 5,000-acre wildfire in Orange County, N.Y., not once but twice, battling unfamiliar terrain to do so. “They fight fires completely differently than we do when we have a brush fire,” the Amagansett chief said.

Nov 21, 2024

Awards for Good Policing in Handgun Scuffle

“It could have gone worse. We’re lucky that I have officers here that weren’t shot,” said Police Chief Jeff Erickson at Friday’s East Hampton Village Board meeting. Chief Erickson was recognizing Sgt. Wayne Gauger and Officers John Clark and Robbie Greene for a traffic stop on Aug. 31 that turned into a scuffle and the eventual confiscation of an illegal gun.

Nov 21, 2024

On the Police Logs 11.21.24

A Three Mile Harbor Drive resident reported an online dating scam on the afternoon of Nov. 16. Somehow, said the 80-year-old man, a person on the dating platform had gotten his phone number and demanded $2,000 from him, threatening to tell his family he was using the site if he did not comply. Police told the man to block the number.

Nov 21, 2024

Head-On Collision on Route 27

A 2-year-old was taken to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital following a head-on collision Saturday afternoon on State Route 27 near Upland Road in Montauk.

Nov 21, 2024

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