Death of a 19-Year-Old

The 19-year-old woman who passed out following a drug overdose and was found on a trail in the Grace Estate in Northwest Woods, East Hampton, on Sunday morning has died. 

East Hampton Town police said Claire P. Pollikoff died at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital last Thursday. Her father, Jay Pollikoff, who is a nurse, told The Star he and other family members had kept watch at her bedside in an intensive care unit before her death.

Detective Sgt. Dan Toia said police are continuing their investigation. He said they had interviewed Ms. Pollikoff’s boyfriend, who was with her when she overdosed on May 27, just after 9 a.m. Police have not determined what kind of drug she had taken, and are awaiting toxicology reports, though the evidence points to an opioid. 

Fentanyl is an opioid that is used as pain medication and with other medications for anesthesia. Most of the heroin that police have been seeing throughout Long Island recently, and which is causing fatal overdoses, is cut with Fentanyl, to further strengthen it, the detective said.

“If you are going to use that, you are taking your life into your own hands,” Detective Toia said. 

A service was held on Sunday. An obituary will appear in a future edition of The Star.