Early Sunday morning, it looked as if a small tornado had torn through the Montauk Green and the Montauk Artists Association Art Show. Instead, East Hampton Town police say the destruction — which wiped out the inventory of some participating artists — was caused by a drunken driver.
In a press release issued early that morning, police said that at approximately 2:59 a.m., Nicoly Ribeiro De Souza, 23, drove her 2020 Nissan Rogue across the green, taking out multiple tents and destroying piles of artwork before hitting a parked car on the other side of the green.
She was transported to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital for minor injuries, released, and charged with driving while intoxicated as a first offense, a misdemeanor, and six counts of reckless criminal mischief. She was arraigned before East Hampton Town Justice Steven Tekulsky on Monday and is due back in court on July 30.
“She completely decimated the tents and all the artwork,” said John Papaleo, a member of the artists association’s board who oversees the twice-a-summer shows on the green, which raise money for its Depot Art Gallery at the Montauk train station.
Mr. Papaleo said there were close to 70 vendors participating this year, and more than half a dozen tents were completely destroyed. “Beyond the damage that was done, our concern today is insurance. Who is going to get sued? Are the vendors going to sue me, the town, or the driver? There’s a whole mishmash of questions. These are small-time people just trying to make a buck. They may not have insurance policies.”
A GoFundMe page to support the nonprofit and the individual artists impacted by the accident had raised $16,751 toward its initial $26,000 goal as of yesterday morning. “These art festivals are the livelihood of these artists and the art show is the main fund-raiser for the Montauk Artists Association,” read the plea for donations. “An art festival display of the caliber destroyed here can cost $5,000+ each, before even taking into account the cost of artwork and time these artists have spent creating it. Not only will artists need to purchase entirely new displays & create a new inventory of work, the missed income from not being able to exhibit for months can be career ending.”
Mr. Papaleo received a call at 3:07 a.m. Sunday from the event security guard and was at the scene four minutes later.
“When I got here the car was still in place,” he said in a phone call Sunday morning. “The driver and passenger were being interviewed. . . . Our security guard missed getting killed by an inch. The chair she was sitting in ended up under the car. Her husband yanked her out of the way and knocked her off the chair. It was a split-second decision that saved her life.”
Mr. Papaleo, who is also an emergency medical technician, said every airbag went off except for the driver’s airbag and that it was remarkable the driver was not seriously injured. “She was shaken up, not beaten up. She was transported to the hospital and her passenger was left sitting on the curb crying. She sat on the curb like that, crying, for the next two to three hours.”
“Alcohol is a big problem here,” Mr. Papaleo said, switching to his E.M.T. hat. “Probably half our calls in the summer are related to intoxication.” He said a couple of venues even have trained E.M.T.s on staff. “They know you’re going to get sick.”
“A number of artists lost everything,” said Evan Reinheimer, an exhibiting artist and member of the art show committee. “She had to be going super-fast. She went right through a wooden barrier around the circle. She hit a vertical post that was ripped out of the ground and flung through the air. I found it about 20 meters away in an artist tent.”
The ground of the green was streaked with oil, said Mr. Reinheimer. Despite the destruction, the show opened on Sunday, piles of debris cleared to the side.
“The attendance has been great. We were very busy, and sales have been good for most artists,” said Mr. Reinheimer.
The artists association has a second show on the Montauk Green planned for Aug. 15 through 17. It will distribute money raised through the GoFundMe page to the individual artists who were impacted, but also lists some of them and their own websites on the page, encouraging people to support them by buying artwork directly from them.
With Reporting by Bettina Neel
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Note: This article has been updated since it first appeared online.
