A serious accident in East Hampton Village during the morning commute on Monday resulted in Main Street being closed to traffic near Mill Road for several hours as investigators worked to determine exactly what happened.
At around 8:20, Richard Lester of Amagansett, 89, attempted to make a left turn in his 2009 Lexus from Mill Road to Main Street, police said. He hit a 2022 Subaru, driven by a 41-year-old female from East Hampton. Upon impact with the Subaru, Mr. Lester's Lexus careened into a box truck traveling north on Main Street and driven by a 33-year-old man from Riverhead.
"The impact was taken on the driver side" of the Lexus, "which created a severe entrapment," Village Police Chief Jeff Erickson said Monday. It took 40 minutes for the East Hampton Fire Department Heavy Rescue team to extricate Mr. Lester from the vehicle. "The dashboard got crushed into his lower extremities," the police chief said. "His tibia, his fibula, his wrists."
"Debris was everywhere," he said.
Mr. Lester was transported to the East Hampton Airport by the village ambulance, and from there to Stony Brook University Hospital by Suffolk County Police Department medevac helicopter.
East Hampton Town accident reconstructors were on the scene until close to 1 p.m. and the New York State Motor Carrier Safety Unit was also called. The road remained closed until 1:14 p.m.
The driver of the Subaru was taken to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital by her family for evaluation, while the driver of the box truck was transported via ambulance, with complaints of pain on his left side. There were two other passengers in the box truck who were uninjured.
As of Tuesday, Mayor Jerry Larsen said Mr. Lester remained in critical condition.
This was one of three motor vehicle accidents in East Hampton Village on Monday morning. The chief said "rubbernecking" could have been the cause of a minor fender-bender that occurred on Woods Lane after the accident. Another minor accident occurred at Route 27 and Cove Hollow Road.
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Note: This article has been updated since it originally appeared online.