The driver in a Springs car accident that killed one teenager and injured six others in June pleaded guilty to multiple charges on Feb. 11 and will be sentenced to four to 12 years in prison.
Luis Barrionuevo-Fuertes of Moriches pleaded guilty in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead to 19 charges stemming from the accident and the death of Scarleth Urgiles Samaniego, 19, of East Hampton on the night of June 15. Mr. Barrionuevo-Fuertes had been driving seven teenagers in his 2006 Toyota Camry — six of whom were in the back seat — home from Maidstone Beach when he lost control of the vehicle on Old Stone Highway. He hit a tree and the sedan rolled onto its side, killing Ms. Urgiles Samaniego and injuring all the other occupants. One of them, an 18-year-old, sustained a spinal fracture and “significant disfigurement” of her hand, according to the Suffolk County district attorney.
Police said Mr. Barrionuevo-Fuertes had been drinking before the accident and that recording software in his car documented speeds in excess of 70 miles per hour in the moments before the crash. The speed limit on Old Stone Highway is 30 miles per hour.
Mr. Barrionuevo-Fuertes was later indicted by the county. Last week, in a guilty plea allocution in front of Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Steven A. Pilewski, he admitted to all the charges. Initially facing up to 25 years in prison, Mr. Barrionuevo-Fuertes could serve a maximum of 12 years.
A GoFundMe for the family of Ms. Urgiles Samaniego, set up by her mother after her death, raised nearly $70,000, including a large donation from the East Hampton Teachers Association. Ms. Urgiles Samaniego was a junior at the high school and wanted to join the Army, according to the GoFundMe page. In an interview on Monday, Melissa Aguanno, Mr. Barrionuevo-Fuertes’s attorney, called the June night “extremely tragic, all around.”
Mr. Barrionuevo-Fuertes was 18 when he was arrested and had had no prior run-ins with the law. “He turned 19 in jail,” she said. Ms. Aguanno said that while her client has always taken full responsibility for his actions that night, in the last eight months he has matured and reflected. “From day one he has never made excuses,” she said.
What he has not done, she said — under her advisement — is address the family of Ms. Urgiles Samaniego. That will change when Mr. Barrionuevo-Fuertes is sentenced on March 18. “He did prepare a letter,” Ms. Aguanno said. He will be permitted to read the letter aloud in the courtroom after victim impact statements are made.
What happens to Mr. Barrionuevo-Fuertes next will be in the hands of the Department of Corrections. After sentencing he will be held for several months in a “downstate” facility where he will be assessed by guards, who will determine which upstate prison he will do his time in.
Before his the accident, Mr. Barrionuevo-Fuertes participated in a two-year BOCES law enforcement program. He had planned to join the military. Ms. Aguanno said she recently told him that would no longer be possible, even after he completes his sentence.
The most serious of the charges include: aggravated vehicular homicide, manslaughter in the second degree, aggravated vehicular assault, vehicular manslaughter in the second degree, two counts of assault in the second degree, vehicular assault in the first degree, two counts of vehicular assault in the second degree, and aggravated driving while intoxicated with a child in the vehicle. The last count came because one of the passengers was 15 at the time of the accident. Eight additional misdemeanor charges and one speeding infraction were also part of the laundry list of charges.
Along with the 15-year-old and the 18-year-old who sustained the spinal fracture, the other passengers in the car, all from East Hampton, included two who were 19, one who was 18, and one who was 17.
Mr. Barrionuevo-Fuertes will be back in court for sentencing and remanding on March 18.
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Note: This article has been updated since it first appeared online.
