Afghanistan vet struck by car, killed

Seamus Byrne came through the badlands of Afghanistan with a concussion and a Purple Heart. He came home to Smithtown to start life again with his wife and their two children, and it was there that he died, struck by a car early Sunday as he crossed Main Street.

He had been celebrating his 33rd birthday with his wife and their friends and was on his way home, said his father-in-law, James Gallagher.

Byrne was taken to Stony Brook University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead about 1:45 a.m., according to Suffolk police. The driver, Michael Armentano, 24, also of Smithtown, was not charged.

The collision was on a 1 1/2-mile stretch of road from the Nissequogue River to Route 111, where there were 359 crashes from 2003 through 2008, according to the state Department of Transportation. Of those, 16 involved pedestrians, including one fatality. Some 33,000 vehicles travel the 30-mph road daily.

Armentano was driving his Honda east and Byrne was walking south in the crosswalk when he was hit, said Sgt. Edward Compagnone. He said the investigation was continuing.

Authorities said the combination of a narrow road, fast-moving traffic, and a large number of pedestrians make crossing Main Street perilous. Smithtown Supervisor Patrick Vecchio said many safety issues have been addressed. A 4-foot-tall barrier was installed on Main Street, crosswalks were widened and traffic lights synchronized. Enforcement also has been stepped up.

The night started at 9 p.m. at Napper Tandy's Irish Pub, Gallagher said, where Byrne had been drinking. Byrne made reservations for 15 people but 20 showed up, including his brothers and friends he'd known since he was a kid in Kings Park, said Byrne's brother-in-law Brian Gallagher, who was there.

There was more to celebrate than just a birthday. Byrne was on patrol in a public market in Kapisa Province, Afghanistan, with the Army National Guard's Fighting 69th of New York and Long Island when he was injured by a suicide bomber, said his platoon leader, Sgt. John O'Dougherty of Valley Stream. But the nightmares and flashbacks that he brought back in 2008 were waning, Brian Gallagher said. The flooring business where Byrne, a carpenter, sometimes worked with a brother was getting busier. Life was getting back to normal.

"We talked about how everybody was getting older, how things were going well for all of us," Brian Gallagher said.

When the party broke up, Byrne and his wife started to walk home.

He ran back to say goodbye to someone; he was about to rejoin his wife when he was hit, James Gallagher said. The driver, police told James Gallagher, saw "only a shadow."

Michelle Byrne, a nurse at Huntington Hospital, tried to revive her husband on the street and spent Sunday making his final arrangements and caring for their children, Seamus, 10, and Ashley, 3.

By Sunday afternoon, word of Byrne's death spread to soldiers and family members associated with the 69th Infantry, which has sent soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan from armories in Huntington, Bay Shore and Freeport. The unit heads to Afghanistan at year's end.

Another sergeant, Eric Farina, who supervised Byrne for a while, said they became close working a guard shift in Afghanistan. "He loved his wife and son with an uncommon intensity and seemed fiercely protective of them both," he said.

Jean Dudenhoffer, an organizer of the regiment's Family Readiness Group, was stunned when told of Byrne's death.

"I just can't talk right now," said Dudenhoffer, whose son Mark served with Byrne in 2008. "He was one of the boys."

Police ask that anyone with information call 631-854-8452.

With Martin Evans