An 11-year-old boy was taken to the East Hampton Emergency Department with minor injuries after being struck by a Chrysler S.U.V. in an East Hampton crosswalk on the afternoon of Sept. 22.
Melva R. McLaughlin of Sag Harbor, 87, the driver, told town police that a "sun glare" had prevented her from seeing the boy in the crosswalk as she was turning left from North Main Street onto Cedar Street. The boy's elbow was bruised in the impact, and an ambulance was called to take him to the Pantigo Road facility for treatment.
Another pedestrian was struck late Saturday night in Sag Harbor, by a Mercedes Sprinter van that then fled the scene.
Sag Harbor Village police were called to the intersection of Hampton Street and Hillside Drive shortly before midnight, where they discovered, scattered across the roadway, a hubcap, a cellphone, pieces of the van's side mirror, and a case of beer. The pedestrian, who officers judged to be intoxicated, told them he'd had six beers before being hit. He had visible bruising to his upper left back and left elbow, and E.M.S. was called in for evaluation, but he refused transport to the hospital and was picked up by his mother, who told officers she would monitor him for the rest of the night.
Police found a serial number on the recovered pieces of the mirror, and, through a review of Flock camera footage, identified the Mercedes van that had been in the area around the time of the incident. The next morning, an officer called Gabriel Rivadeneira Samaniego of East Hampton, 38, its owner, and asked him if he'd been driving in Sag Harbor the night before and remembered hitting anything, to which he replied, "I know I hit something, I didn't know it was a person."
He was told to report to police headquarters, where he further stated that he'd been on the phone with his boss at the time of the incident, and had pulled over afterward to tape up his damaged side mirror so he could get home. Police said he asked them, "How is the guy?"
He was charged with leaving the scene of an accident with injuries, a misdemeanor, and released with an order to appear in Justice Court later this month.
