Update: Police identify motorcyclist killed in Route 58 crash
A 37-year-old motorcyclist who had just moved to Riverhead from Rocky Point was killed last Thursday night after striking an SUV at the intersection of Route 58 and Kroemer Avenue in Riverhead, authorities said.
The biker, identified as Matthew Carr, was headed east on Route 58 shortly after 9 p.m. when he crashed head-on into a westbound 2000 Jeep whose driver, Gregory Stanisci, 19, was attempting to make a left turn onto Kroemer Avenue, Riverhead police said.
Mr. Carr was thrown from the motorcycle and landed on a Honda sedan driven by 29-year-old Ryan Foley of Aquebogue, who was stopped at the intersection, according to police. Mr. Carr was attended to by Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance workers and transported to Peconic Bay Medical Center, where he died.
No other injuries were reported.
Mr. Stanisci was arrested at the scene on an aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle charge due to an insurance lapse, police said. Mr. Stanisci, who was not faulted in the crash, was processed at police headquarters and released without bail.
Police said Mr. Carr “failed to yield to the right of way, running a red light,” according to a preliminary investigation.
The accident happened right in front of the Applebee’s Neighborhood Bar & Grill restaurant just as dinner service was starting to wind down, though none of the staff there witnessed the crash, said hostess Jill Fernandez.
“We saw it afterward; we were all working at the time,” she said. “There was just cops and ambulances and those torches in the ground.”
No workers had even heard the collision, she added.
Riverhead Police Chief David Hegermiller said the traffic light at the intersection was functioning properly at the time of the crash, though he said he would ask county Department of Public Works or town engineering department personnel to check the light, “because they’re the experts.”
Detectives did monitor the traffic signals for quite some time while investigating the scene, Chief Hegermiller said.
Police are still investigating and are asking anyone with information to call 727-4500, ext. 327.
