State AG probe clears off-duty Quogue police officer of criminality in pedestrian death

An off-duty Quogue Village police officer who struck and killed a Hampton Bays woman with his personal vehicle will not be charged with a crime following a review of the case by State Attorney General Letitia James’ Office of Special Investigation.

Margaret Lucey, 89, was crossing Ponquogue Avenue going west in Hampton Bays shortly before 11 a.m. on Jan. 8, 2024, when she was struck by officer Jon Stanton’s Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck as Stanton made a left turn from Good Ground Road, authorities said.

Stanton remained at the scene and cooperated with the investigation, the report said. 

Lucey was taken by Hampton Bays Volunteer Ambulance to Southampton Hospital where she died from her injuries, Southampton Town police said.

Two months after the accident, the AG's office announced that it was launching an investigation of the crash, which is mandated under a 2021 state law for deaths involving on- and off-duty police, peace officers and correction officers. 

On Wednesday, James' office released her 11-page report into the incident which "concludes that a prosecutor would not be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt at trial that Officer Stanton committed a crime when he caused Ms. Lucey’s death."

The investigation, the report states, included review of a 911 call, footage from nearby security cameras, an interview with a witness and photographs from the scene. The investigation, the report said, found no evidence that Stanton was speeding, distracted, impaired by drugs or alcohol or driving in a reckless manner.

Stanton, who was hired by the department in February 2022 and is volunteer firefighter and EMT, immediately requested an ambulance, the report states, and began performing life-saving measures.

"Officer Stanton told the 911 operator that the elderly woman was bleeding from her ears and nose, did not have a pulse, was not breathing, and that he had started CPR," the report states.

Quogue Village police did not immediately respond to requests for comments.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.