Crime & Safety
Cops: No Criminal Charges for Driver in Bicycle Fatality
Police say bicyclist crossed infront of SUV; Driver issued ticket for "failure to exercise due care."
The driver whose vehicle ran over and killed a 14-year-old bicyclist on Saturday in East Hampton Village won't be charged criminally, police said.
Village Police Chief Jerry Larsen said on Monday that Maria Brennan, 73, of East Hampton, was issued a moving violation under State Vehicle and Traffic Law for "failure to exercise due care," in that police said she didn't react quickly enough to the collision.
Anna Lytton, an eighth grader at the Springs School, was riding her bicycle west on Pantigo Road, when she was struck by a 2002 Ford Explorer, also headed west. Lytton was trying to turn left toward Gay Lane, where the East Hampton Post Office and CVS pharmacy are located, crossed in front of the SUV, police said in a statement on Monday.
Anna died at Stony Brook University Hospital, where she was flown following the accident.
The chief, a parent himself, said he met with Lytton's parents on Monday morning. "There are no real words to comfort anybody," he said.
Lytton was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, but was carrying one with her, he said. However, he does not believe the helmet would have made a difference.
She was not required to wear a helmet. State Vehicle and Traffic law only mandates those under the age of 14 to wear a helmet, Larsen said. Still, he said, he encourages all bicyclists, adults included, to wear a helmet. "We don't care about age. Certainly, wear a helmet," he said.
Meanwhile, Anna's family is planning a service for her the weekend of June 21. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that donations be made, in the future, to a fund for the arts that Anna's mother, Kate Rabinowitz, is developing in her honor.
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