East Marion crash: Police ID 4 killed in head-on collision

Four people — a Greenport businessman, a Connecticut father of two, and a couple from Brooklyn — were killed late Friday night when two vehicles crashed head-on in East Marion, Southold Town police said.

The crash, involving a 2023 Tesla and a 2020 Ford Explorer, happened in the eastbound lane of Route 25, just west of Truman’s Beach, Southold Town Police Chief Martin Flatley said. Two people were in each vehicle, he said.

Police identified the victims as Heath Miller, 47, of Greenport, and William Price, 55, of Wilton, Connecticut, who were in the Tesla; and Peter R. Smith, 80, and Patricia A. O'Neill, 66, both of Brooklyn, who were in the Explorer.

Police said the Tesla had been traveling west and that the Explorer was eastbound in the small North Fork community at the time of the crash.

“One of the vehicles caught fire, so we had three fire departments out there,” Flatley said.

The police chief said the Tesla had a lithium battery that made it difficult for the fire departments to extinguish the flames, and that the two occupants were trapped inside the car. The Explorer flipped, with its two occupants stuck inside.

Flatley said there was no indication alcohol was involved in the crash. The condition of the vehicles makes for a "challenging investigation," he said.

"It's a location where it's an open roadway. There's not a lot of traffic that time of night, especially this time of year," Flatley said. 

He said investigators were not successful in attempting to secure video footage of the crash from nearby houses, which are set back from the road, closer to Long Island Sound.

State police were assisting with accident reconstruction and in identifying who was driving each vehicle.

Flatley said he believed most of the victims had ties to the area.

Miller lived in an 1830 house off the Main Road in Greenport that family members said he and his wife had worked hard to renovate. The house is three miles west of the crash site.

“It’s rough, it’s just absolutely devastating,” said Jim Pugh, Miller’s father-in-law, speaking outside the Miller home Saturday. 

“We’re waiting for the investigators to give us some idea as to what might have taken place, but we just don't have any information at the moment,” said Pugh, who drove from Ohio on Saturday to console his grieving daughter, Sarah-Mai Miller.

The Millers own a branding firm, Chalk 242, in Manhattan and live in Greenport when they’re not traveling for work, Pugh said. Miller also has a son in Pennsylvania from a previous relationship.

Price, of Connecticut, was Miller's friend, Pugh said. 

Price's wife, Melissa Perilli-Price, said her husband was on Long Island visiting and that he also has family on the Island. The couple has two children, ages 9 and 13.

Price worked in advertising and marketing, his wife said.

"He was the nicest, kindest, most even person I ever met in my life, and my best friend and the best father. I know everyone says that, but you have never met a better husband and father in your life," Perilli-Price said. 

Property records show Smith and O'Neill own a house on Main Road in Orient, two miles east of the crash site. No one answered the door at that address Saturday.

The doorman at the Brooklyn Heights apartment building listed in public records for Smith said Saturday evening that no one was home in their unit, and that Smith and his wife would typically go away for the weekend, as they had for this weekend.

Charred remnants of the crash remained at the scene Saturday morning, including an orange New York State license plate burned to a charcoal gray. 

Joe Licari of East Marion said he was in his house west of the crash scene when he heard sirens late Friday night. He described the area as a "piece of heaven," and that section of roadway, known as the East Marion Causeway connecting Greenport with Orient, as mostly safe.

"My heart goes out to the families and those affected by it," Licari said as he passed the scene on a bike ride Saturday morning.

The Southold and Orient fire departments assisted East Marion volunteers and Suffolk County emergency services at the scene, police said. What remained of the Tesla was visible from the Southold Town impound lot in Peconic.

Flatley said such a horrific crash takes its toll on first responders. "It has its effects on the officers and firemen who are there," he said.

With Randee Daddona