Southold Town was hit with another notice of claim yesterday after July’s deadly limo crash in Cutchogue that took the lives of four young women. And last night, a neighbor who has been crying out about dangerous conditions in the area for years begged the town board for help, before tragedy strikes again.
A notice of claim was filed with Southold Town Clerk Elizabeth Neville by New York-based attorneys Block, O’Toole & Murphy LLP, representing Arthur Belli, who filed the legal proceedings after Stephanie Belli, 23, of Kings Park, died in the crash.
The notice of claim against Southold Town and Suffolk County says that Belli died due to “recklessness, carelessness, and gross negligence” of both the town and county, due to unsafe conditions at the intersection of Route 48 and Depot Lane in Cutchogue that the legal document says led to the crash.
The words echo the notices of claim filed by the families of the other young women who died or were severely injured in the crash, which took place after a day spent wine tasting on the North Fork, with a stop at Vineyard 48. The limo in which the young women were riding was T-boned as the driver of the limo tried to make a U-turn and was hit by Steve Romeo, 55, of Peconic.
At last night’s town board meeting, Cutchogue resident Bill Shipman, who has long implored the board to see the unsafe conditions on Route 48 near Vineyard 48, commended this weekend’s crackdown on limos and buses that left three out of service; one driver was caught navigating an unsafe U-turn at the very spot where the four women died.
Shipman asked the board to consider assigning police officers to that intersection at the most high-volume hours on Saturday between 3 and 6 p.m. He said if the town did not have the resources to allocate, the board should ask the county and state for help.
Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell said efforts to crack down on limo and bus drivers violation the rules of the road would continue with the town doing “what we have, all along.”
Councilman Jim Dinizio said the weekend’s crackdown was a direct result of the town hiring eight additional police officers.
Dinizio said he continues to think about the accident daily and said efforts would continue but whether the town could proceed with the crackdowns every weekend remained to be seen.
Shipman reminded that he has been asking the town board for targeted enforcement for years. “That terrible thing I said might happen, happened — and it’s bound to happen again,” he said.
A few hours of overtime by town police could prevent tragedy, he said. “I’m begging you. It’s going to happen again and next time, it might not be somebody from another place. My family went through that intersection five minutes before” the crash, he said.
A new highway patrol officer has also been hired, Dinizio said.
Russell said he could not comment due to pending litigation but said he had discussed the issue at great length with Shipman in past months and was listening.
“Give police a couple of hours of overtime. The cost of doing that now is going to peanuts compared to the cost of litigation over the next five years,” Shipman said
Earlier this month, Southold Town and Suffolk County continued to get slapped with notices of claim as the number of legal proceedings continued to swell in the wake of July’s deadly limo crash.
Alicia Arundel, 24, injured in the accident and represented by the Mineola-based Bongiorno Law Firm and attorney Brandon Cruz, filed a notice of claim seeking damages for “personal injuries and emotional suffering sustained on July 18.”
As a result of the accident, the notice of claim states that Arundel sustained “multiple severe serious and permanent injuries” including, but not limited to, a fractured, crushed left humerus, which required surgery, facial lacerations, severe emotional distress and psychological damages, “and other serious injuries, loss of enjoyment from life, and expenses for medical care.”
The notice of claim alleges that the town and county were caused by the failure to install the “proper and necessary” traffic control devices, despite the fact that the intersection was “dangerous” and that limousines were “known” to make U turns into oncoming traffic on Route 48.
Those allegations were echoed throughout the legal proceedings that have commenced so far, with each stating that the town and county knew that the intersection was dangerous.
Southold Town was hit with another notice of claim filed on September 2 by attorney Frank Laine of Plainview, representing Mindy Grabina, mother of Amy Grabina, 23, of Commack, who died in the accident. The notice of claim states that Grabina suffered fatal injuries due to “negligence, carelessness, and recklessness” on the part of the town.
Another notice of claim was filed against the town and county on August 19 by East Northport attorney John Juliano, representing the estate and family of Brittney M. Schulman, 23, of Smithtown, who suffered from, according to the notice, from “blunt force head trauma, multiple blunt impact injuries, massive internal injuries, and death.”
The emotional pain and suffering caused by the accident impacts entire families and communities, Juliano said. “It’s a ripple effect. Like a stone cast into the water,” he said.
A notice of claim was also filed by Joelle Dimonte, 25, of Elwood. Earlier in August, Cutchogue attorney Bob Sullivan said the notice of claim was filed against the Southold Town and Suffolk County on behalf of Steve Baruch, father of Lauren Baruch, 24, Smithtown.
“I have an office in Cutchogue,” Sullivan said. “All the residents have sent emails, gone to meetings, sent letters over the years saying this was going to happen.” He said residents have asked for a “no U turn” sign and traffic light for years. “The bottom line is that the town and county dropped the ball.”
He added, “Isn’t it sad, now we’re going to get the light, but we had to lose four young girls to do so? What are people doing in the county if they’re not listening to residents?”
Sullivan said both the driver of the limo and of the pickup truck would later be named in the suit.
Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell said, in an interview with SoutholdLOCAL, that while he could not comment on the specifics of the litigation, “The town is well-insured on all claims.”
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said he could not comment on pending litigation.
One week after the accident, Suffolk County Legislator Al Krupski said a traffic light would be installed at the deadly intersection of Route 48 and Depot Lane where the limo crash took place; residents are outraged that the light will have no green lefthand turn arrow.
The intersection has long been a source of concern to residents.
After a neighbor reached out to department of public works in May, discussions began, Krupski said. The department of public works had actually begun the process of collecting traffic data a year ago to justify the new light, Krupski said.
Neighbor Susan Tyler said the accident at the intersection was one neighbors have been dreading for years. “It was only a matter of time,” she said. “We’ve been saying for years that it would happen, but still hoped that it never would, and now it has.”
Southold Town Police Chief Martin Flatley, at the accident site, agreed. “This is what we’ve always been afraid of.”
The limo driver, he said, tried to make a U turn and head west on Route 48 when he was struck by a pickup. “It was a dangerous move,” he said.
Limos making such turns take up two to three lanes and pose a danger on area roads, Flatley said, one reason why the town has been cautioning against potential tragedy on Route 48 for years.
Romeo, the driver of the pickup, was charged with driving while intoxicated after the crash but later, toxicology results indicated that his his blood alcohol level was .066, less than the legal limit.
The limo driver was not charged; his blood was tested and no presence of alcohol or drugs was found, District Attorney Thomas Spota said.
At the end of July, the first litigation was announced when one of the four women who survived the deadly accident commenced a lawsuit. According to her attorney, Jason Paris of Paris & Chaikin PLLC in New York, a summons and complaint was filed in New York State Supreme Court in Kings County on behalf of his client Olga Lipets, 24, of Brooklyn against Romeo, his company Romeo Dimone Marine, limo driver Carlos F. Pino and Ultimate Class Limousine, Inc.
His client, Paris said, has been released from intensive care and is recovering from her injuries, which include multiple fractures in her left leg, with surgical inserts, and a broken jaw which is still wired shut. Also, he said, Lipets suffered “emotional trauma,” the extent of which is still unknown.
Paris said while nothing can ever adequately compensate for what the victims endured, the “hope is to find some measure of justice.”
The young women who lost their lives in the accident were Schulman, Baruch, Belli, and Grabina.
Also injured in the accident were the driver of the limousine, Pino, 58, of Bethpage, Dimonte, Melissa Angela Crai, 23, of Scarsdale, and Arundel.
