Two days later, the tire marks remained — a long scar stretching from the pavement to the grass and ending at a tree, bark scraped off, where mourners stopped on Tuesday evening to place flowers alongside a handmade cross with the name “Scarleth” and the dates of her birth and death.
Scarleth Milena Urgiles Samaniego, 19, a junior at East Hampton High School, was killed on Sunday evening when a 2009 Toyota Camry driven by 18-year-old Luis Gonzalo Barrionuevo-Fuertes left the road, rolled over, and hit a tree on Old Stone Highway in Springs, near Deep Six Drive. She was pronounced dead at the scene, and six other teenage passengers, all from East Hampton, were injured.
Jennifer Amon-Barrers, 18, was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital, where she was listed in “serious but stable condition,” police said in a press release Monday. Michael Puente, 19, Melanie Mendez, 19, Carlos Pinos, 18, and unnamed 15 and 17-year-olds were taken to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. All are students at East Hampton High School.
Mr. Barrionuevo-Fuertes, an East Hampton graduate now living in Moriches, was arrested at the scene and taken to East Hampton Town police headquarters in Wainscott. The charges against him include driving while intoxicated as a first offense and endangering the welfare of a child, both misdemeanors, and aggravated D.W.I. with a child passenger less than 16, a felony punishable by up to four years in prison.
At his arraignment Monday afternoon before East Hampton Town Justice Steven Tekulsky, Mr. Barrionuevo-Fuertes appeared with his attorney, Melissa Aguanno; his parents sat in the courtroom. “He was shaking, he was sobbing, he was devastated,” Ms. Aguanno told reporters afterward.
He pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanors and entered a denial, similar to a not-guilty plea, on the felony charge, according to his attorney. Justice Tekulsky set bail at $400,000 cash or $800,000 bond. Unable to make bail, he was remanded to the Suffolk County Correctional Facility in Yaphank. He is due back in court tomorrow, but Ms. Aguanno believes “that’s probably going to change.” She expects that the charges will be upgraded, and that the prosecutor will soon be convening a grand jury to make a determination on probable cause.
Outside the courthouse on Monday, Ms. Aguanno said that her client has “no priors” and has been “fully cooperative with law enforcement.” Providing some background, she said he had attended a BOCES law enforcement program as a sophomore and had taken tests for the Army and Marines. “He intended to go that path,” she told reporters. Some of the passengers were his friends, but he did not know all of them, she said. “His family does want to say that they are extremely sorry [about] the person who lost their life.”
“The whole case is just a tragedy — every aspect of it,” she said in a phone call Tuesday morning, noting that the lives of all of the young people involved have been changed forever.
News of the accident shook the town at large, and especially the school community, coming as it did on the eve of the final day of classes at the high school. Faculty were informed of Scarleth’s death at 7:20 on Monday morning.
Shortly after that, Adam Fine, the district superintendent, sent a message to families confirming that one student had died and several others had been injured in the crash. Several members of the high school’s mental health team went to first-period classrooms “to tell students in person of the fatality,” the principal, Sara Smith, said by email Monday evening.
Town police issued a press release naming the driver, the victim, and the four other passengers ages 18 and older just before 8 a.m.
“There are no words that can fully express the sorrow we feel for the family, friends, and all those impacted by this heartbreaking loss,” Ms. Smith said in an emailed message to families a few minutes later.
The school’s mental health professionals, counselors from the Family Service League, and social workers from both the John M. Marshall Elementary School and East Hampton Middle School were available all day Monday for students who wished to speak with them, and “these support services will continue to be available for as long as needed,” Ms. Smith told families. “Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you feel your child would benefit from additional support.”
“Our community is heartbroken,” East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said in a statement on Monday. “We are praying for those who were injured, and we are standing with their families as they face the unimaginable.” She offered words of support to the families of Scarleth and the other young people who were in the car.
“We are holding you in our hearts and hoping for healing and strength. Your children matter to all of us, and so do you.”
She thanked school officials and staff for responding “quickly and compassionately to support our students during this incredibly difficult time,” and also thanked the Springs Fire Department, the Springs, Amagansett, and East Hampton Village ambulance crews, and the officers of the East Hampton Town Police Department who responded to the crash.
“East Hampton is a small town. We feel these losses deeply. And while nothing can take away the pain, we can continue to show up for one another with compassion, with presence, and with love. Let us remember Scarleth. Let us hold those still recovering in our thoughts. And let us keep each other close in the days ahead,” the supervisor concluded.
Scarleth was born in Ecuador on Jan. 31, 2006. She arrived in the East Hampton School District in the 2023-24 school year as a sophomore, according to the principal. “In her short time with us, Scarleth demonstrated remarkable resilience and determination,” Ms. Smith wrote. “While continuing to advance in her English proficiency, she earned a spot on the high honor roll in her first year here, an extraordinary accomplishment that reflected her strong work ethic and commitment to academic excellence.”
This year, when approached about joining the lacrosse team, which was in need of a goalie, “Scarleth immediately stepped up without hesitation. That was just who she was, eager to help, open to new experiences, and always ready to contribute. Scarleth was well liked by her peers and teachers, and her positivity, dedication, and kind spirit were felt by everyone that she encountered.”
She is survived by her mother, Gabriela Samaniego, and a brother, Jack Urgiles.
“She was an amazing daughter, sister, granddaughter, cousin, niece, and friend,” her mother wrote on a GoFundMe page that she started on Monday to raise money for funeral expenses. “We are all heartbroken over Scarleth’s passing and were unprepared for the expense of a funeral service.” By Tuesday evening, the page had raised nearly $57,000 from some 700 donors. Her funeral was tentatively to be held tomorrow, but details had not yet been finalized by press time. “We want to give her the memorial she deserves — a meaningful goodbye surrounded by the people she loved,” her mother wrote.
She described her daughter as a tireless volunteer who had “creatively made a difference in the world.” She dreamed of buying a house for her mother and brother and hoped to join the Army. “She always thought that her courage and determination would help others.”
