Southampton police release new details about Eastport crash that injured student on her way to school bus
Montauk Highway, near Eastport Elementary School in Eastport, where a 13-year-old girl was hit by a vehicle Monday morning. Credit: James Carbone
A 13-year-old girl who was struck by a vehicle while crossing Montauk Highway Monday morning entered the roadway before the school bus she was attempting to meet had activated its red stop light arm, Southampton Town police said Tuesday.
The teen, a student at Eastport-South Manor Junior-Senior High School, was treated at the scene for non-life-threatening injuries and taken to a local hospital, accompanied by her mother, according to Eastport-South Manor Central School District officials.
The driver, who remained at the scene of the crash, is not suspected of any wrongdoing, police said.
A news release issued by Southampton Police Tuesday provides new details about the moments before the teen was struck and appears to indicate that the driver was not responsible for the accident.
The teen, whose name has not been released, entered the westbound highway, near Eastport Elementary School, at 6:45 a.m. as an eastbound Montauk School Bus was slowing down with its yellow caution lights on, police said.
The teen “walked out in front” of a sedan heading west on the highway, causing the collision, police said.
It remains unclear why the school bus was parked on the opposite side of Montauk Highway from where the girl was located. None of the scheduled bus routes require a student to cross the highway, district officials said.
Messages left with the Montauk Bus Company were not returned.
Police Tuesday said the bus had not activated its red stop light arm.
In a letter to parents Monday, District Superintendent Joseph A. Steimel initially said that the “stop sign connected to the bus was extended at the time of the incident.”
But on Tuesday, a district spokeswoman said that after reviewing video footage of the accident, the stop arm had not yet been activated. All Eastport-South Manor school buses have stop-arm cameras.
Information about the victim's condition, or details about the driver who hit her, were not released. The victim's mother declined to comment.
Federal data reviewed by Newsday shows that there have been no pedestrian-involved fatal crashes on Montauk Highway in Eastport, between Old Country Road and South Country Road, from 2007 through 2021.
With Arielle Martinez
Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.
