Riverhead GOP chair faces DWI charge after alleged crash spree
The chairperson of the Riverhead Town Republican Committee was charged with driving while intoxicated after allegedly crashing into multiple parked vehicles and damaging property over Memorial Day weekend, according to police records.
Tammy Robinkoff, 60, was driving a 2020 Honda Fit at about 7:16 p.m. Sunday when she first struck a parked white Nissan on West Main Street and left the scene, police accident reports obtained through a FOIL request said.
She continued east on Main Street, hit another parked Black Chevrolet pickup truck on Sunrise Avenue and then made her way to Further Lane, according to the records.
Ring doorbell footage obtained exclusively by the Riverhead News-Review appears to show a gray car, allegedly driven by Ms. Robinkoff, backing into a basketball hoop and hitting a telephone pole outside a Further Lane home before driving away.
Ms. Robinkoff, who lives on Further Lane, is facing a DWI charge and four counts of leaving the scene of an accident with property damage, Riverhead Town Justice Court confirmed Friday.
She is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday, June 3.
Her attorney, Steven Losquadro, said Ms. Robinkoff is focused on her health and declined to comment further on the case.
“Chairwoman Tammy Robinkoff will focus on her well-being and medical conditions, some of which surely contributed to this incident,” Mr. Losquadro told the News-Review in a text on Friday. “In addition to not commenting further on this personal legal matter, Mrs. Robinkoff appreciates the expressions of concern and support offered by many to not only herself, but her family.”
No media release was issued by the Riverhead Police Department about the incident.
Riverhead Police Chief Ed Frost did not respond to a request for comment.
Further Lane residents gave firsthand accounts of the damage to the News-Review.
Keri Smeraldi said she heard what sounded like “a gunshot” around 7:15 p.m. Her boyfriend looked out the window and saw that Ms. Smeraldi’s car had been hit in the street.
She could not make out who was driving because of the vehicle’s tinted windows. Then she watched the driver reverse toward her property, she said.
“I opened the front door, and I went out because I thought they were gonna stop,” Ms. Smeraldi said Thursday. “When I’m on the front stoop, she puts it in reverse, and I saw her heading towards my boyfriend’s car — I was just screaming.”
The police accident report states that Ms. Robinkoff struck the rear side of a red car parked in the street in front of Ms. Smeraldi’s home, then drove in reverse onto the driveway, where she crashed into a second vehicle, a basketball hoop and Ms. Smeraldi’s garage door.
“She went to the basketball hoop and knocked it down, then her undercarriage of her car on the side got stuck on my steps, and then she went forward, and she hit my garage, and then she was able to get back on the road,” Ms. Smeraldi said.
After driving over Ms. Smeraldi’s lawn, Ms. Robinkoff clipped a utility pole before continuing down Further Lane, according to the accident report. She then crashed into the back driver’s side of a fifth parked vehicle and stopped just before Daly Drive, the report states.
Ms. Smeraldi said she was on the phone with 911 when she saw a police car speed down the road toward Ms. Robinkoff’s residence.
One witness recalled neighbors running down the street toward the car, some “in socks and bare feet,” after rushing out of their homes to see what had happened. The witness said one person helped the driver out of the car and into a lawn chair while others consoled her.
The residential street was closed for nearly two hours, according to witnesses.
Ms. Robinkoff was taken to Peconic Bay Medical Center, processed and held for an arraignment on Monday, according to police.
The damaged Honda Fit and several other vehicles were towed from the scene, according to reports. Photos shared with the News-Review show damaged vehicles, debris in the roadway and emergency crews on Further Lane after the Sunday evening havoc.
In the days since the crash, Ms. Smeraldi said she has been dealing with insurance companies. She learned Friday that her vehicle had been ruled a total loss.
Although she was thankful no one was seriously injured, Ms. Smeraldi said she has been shaken by what unfolded outside her home.
“I’ve been sick for a while because it’s just a lot to take in, and what I saw, it’s hard to unsee,” she said. “We have people walking all the time, but the only thing was that the weather was not great, so that’s what kept everybody basically inside…my son plays basketball every day.”
