An 18-year-old driver was arrested after a hit-and-run in downtown Amagansett Friday afternoon that left a pedestrian seriously injured and caused the business district to be closed off for several hours.
The accident occurred at around 2:20 p.m. on Main Street near the intersection of Hedges Lane. The pedestrian, Alexandra Liveris of Amagansett, 39, was struck as she entered the crosswalk by a black 2016 Chevrolet, whose driver then fled, heading east on Montauk Highway, police said. Ms. Liveris was treated by the Amagansett Fire Department at the scene and transported to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, where she was listed in stable condition.
“You could actually hear the screams through town,” said Michael Cinque, the owner of Amagansett Wine and Spirits and a longtime Amagansett Fire Department volunteer. “You could just hear that she was in a lot of pain.” He had been in his shop across the street at the time of the accident, and received a call from dispatch requesting emergency medical service assistance.
He was among the first responders to arrive. They had placed Ms. Liveris on a backboard and lifted her out of the crosswalk into an ambulance before the police shut down the street. “All I can say is that anyone in Amagansett is extremely lucky to have the emergency services that we have here,” Mr. Cinque said.
East Hampton Town police closed off Main Street between Indian Wells Highway and Miankoma Lane soon after. Nicola Clayton, a realtor who works at the Douglas Elliman office in East Hampton, was driving to Amagansett around 4:30 p.m. to pick up an order from Flowers By Beth when she saw a police vehicle parked across Main Street, redirecting all traffic down Indian Wells Highway. “Nobody knew what was going on,” she said. The street remained closed until at least 9:15 p.m.
Ms. Clayton got out of her car and asked a policeman what had happened, and was told that there had been a hit-and-run in the pedestrian crosswalk, and that the victim had been rushed to the hospital. “I said to him, ‘Are you kidding me?’ I haven’t heard of this kind of accident in a very, very long time.” She was told she could park and walk to the flower shop, which she did, and on her way back learned from another officer that the driver had not been caught. “It was getting dark, and by the time I drove home Montauk Highway was completely backed up. And I must tell you that at that point, I felt quite worried. Like, ‘This is really bad.’ “
Police issued a traffic alert over social media around 5:30 p.m. that Route 27 in Amagansett would remain closed “for the next several hours” as they investigated a serious accident. Early Saturday morning, they issued a press release identifying the driver of the S.U.V. as Brianna Becci of West Babylon, 18, and announced that she had been located by law enforcement “a short time” after the incident. A police spokesman said yesterday that Flock cameras on Main Street had recorded her license plate and the color of her car.
Ms. Becci was arrested on the misdemeanor charges of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in serious injury and acting in a manner injurious to a child under 17 — there was a 14-year-old passenger in the vehicle at the time — along with two traffic infractions. She was released with instructions to appear in East Hampton Town Justice Court on Wednesday.
“One of the things that drives me up the bloody wall is that people who drive do not understand the fact that if somebody is on a crosswalk, just because the person has passed my car, it does not mean that I am free to go,” Ms. Clayton said. “The law says that the cars must remain stopped until that person has crossed through to the other side of the road. Nobody seems to realize that, and people have to understand that pedestrians using a crosswalk have to be respected.”
Police declined yesterday to release any further information, as the investigation is continuing. Anyone who may have witnessed the incident has been asked to call town detectives at 631-537-7575.
