Driver in Five Corners Accident Ticketed

A driver was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital Friday afternoon after a pickup truck hit a sedan at a controversial intersection of Route 114 in East Hampton Village.



Village police said the driver of the 2014 Chevrolet pickup, Jefferson D. Eames, 46, of Amagansett, had stopped at a Buell Lane stop sign before turning left onto Buell Lane Extension. He told police he did not see the 2013 Nissan that was headed south on Toilsome Lane, and struck it on the driver’s side.



The accident happened at 12:10 p.m. The East Hampton Fire Department’s heavy rescue squad helped extricate the sedan’s driver, Philip C. Pocchia, 25, of Shirley, and the East Hampton Village Ambulance Association transported Mr. Pocchia to East Hampton Airport, where a Suffolk County medevac helicopter picked him up at around 12:30 p.m.



Mr. Eames, who was not injured, was ticketed for failure to yield.



The intersection, often called the five corners, was closed to traffic after the accident. A roundabout is to be constructed there this year. Local officials have called the crossing hazardous, citing traffic volume, poor sight distances, and misalignment of the intersecting roads.



Discussions about how to improve it have been going on for at least two years. In October, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle, and village officials announced a $700,000 State Community Capital Assistance Program grant for the roundabout’s construction.