A single-vehicle crash Saturday night at the southbound curve of Hampton and Division Streets in Sag Harbor sent the driver and a passenger to the hospital with injuries and left a house at the crash site with a shocked resident and damage to its second floor.
The incident also spurred neighbors to lobby for traffic safety in that area.
Sag Harbor police said Jake A. Early, 22, who lives in the village, was driving a pickup truck that did not belong to him, a 2016 Chevrolet Silverado, and failed to navigate the curve in the road.
Police and first responders were at the scene at 10:12 p.m. Mr. Early and his passenger, a 17-year-old girl, were able to climb out of the truck on their own. After speaking with the driver, police determined that he was intoxicated, and charged him with felony drunken driving based on a prior D.W.I. conviction in September 2019. He also faces misdemeanor charges of aggravated unlicensed operation, driving without a court-mandated Interlock device, and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
Both Mr. Early and the young woman were transported to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital and were admitted for treatment. He is due to be arraigned in Sag Harbor Justice Court tomorrow. In a news release, Sag Harbor Police Chief Austin J. McGuire said his department was "working in conjunction with the Suffolk County district attorney's vehicular crimes unit, and further charges may be pending."
Mr. Early sustained serious leg injuries and his 17-year-old passenger had internal bleeding, police said.
A Hampton Street neighbor who heard the crash rushed out of his house to see what had happened. The neighbor, Peter Acocella, believes that "the truck was slowed as it downed a utility pole and tore through fences, trees, and shrubs, preventing it from seriously damaging the structure itself. The house sustained damage on its second story, no doubt from flying debris."
Mr. Acocella said the house's owner had bought it just this year and "was visibly shaken when she emerged from her home. She had been sitting a mere five feet away from where the truck came to rest."
He recalled several other accidents in almost the same spot, notably one in which a van driven by an intoxicated driver damaged two Hampton Street houses. The impact downed a street light, which then collapsed onto a car parked in the driveway of a third house.
"Residents along that stretch of road have appealed to authorities for years in the hope that they would take action to mitigate the danger to them and their property. Their appeal has fallen on deaf ears," Mr. Acocella said.
He later added, "It is not a matter of if, but when this will happen again."
The incident has spurred neighbors to lobby for traffic safety in the area. Mr. Acocella said they have begun brainstorming ideas for change. Less than a day after the accident, State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. said that "now is the time" for such proposals, because Route 114 (the state's official name for Hampton Street) is slated for a top-to-bottom repaving and re-engineering project in 2021.
"We're in the planning and design stage. There have been a number of recommendations for modifications and improvements, and I forward them along to the Department of Transportation," Mr. Thiele said. "For example, the need for a turning lane at Stephen Hand's Path. We're having them look at that. . . . Whether it's signage, lighting, reflectors that could better define the intersection there, certainly those are things that can be looked at as part of this project."
He acknowledged that any work would have to involve Sag Harbor Village resources as well.
On Monday, the village's mayor, Kathleen Mulcahy, called Route 114 "a hot-spot for accidents." The village is working on solutions, she said.
"We are putting up solar-powered blinking speed lights. We had four places chosen, and I am going to talk to [the police chief] about potentially moving one to this area. That's a maybe, but it would certainly be a good step. We don't want this to happen again. I look forward to any ideas the neighbors have."
