Biggest Crime, Accident and Fire Stories

While success and benevolence was commonplace in Smithtown, St. James, Head of the Harbor and Nesconset this year, tragic events weren't unfamiliar to the area. Here are the biggest crime, accident and fire stories of 2010.

1.  – Maureen Lambert, the Stony Brook woman who pleaded guilty in October to vehicular manslaughter and leaving the scene of the accident that killed 11-year-old Courtney Sipes was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison Dec. 8.

2.  – Jonathan Havlicek, 19, of Mount Sinai was pronounced dead at the scene in a 3:30 a.m. car accident  on Middle Country Road on Dec. 19.

3. – Suffolk County Police shut down the section of Main Street between New York Avenue and Maple Avenue after Curtis Windheim, 24, opened fire with a pellet gun at two moving vehicles on West Main Street in Smithtown.

4.  – Nesconset, Smithtown, St. James, Centereach, Ronkonkoma and Lakeland fire departments responded to a house fire at 191 Smithtown Boulevard in Nesconset at 1:38 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 11.

5.  – Linda Amattuci, 49, struck a utility on Townline Road in Hauppauge at approximately 5:10 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 11. Amatucci was transported via ambulance to Hauppauge High School to be airlifted to Stony Brook University Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. 

6.  – Veronica Omerza, an 80-year old Commack woman, died in a motor vehicle crash that closed Route 25, 1000 feet west of Meadow Road, during rush hour on Wednesday, Sept. 29.

7.  – The Coast Guard Long Island Sound sector, with the help of Suffolk County Police units, rescued two people 300 yards off of Short Beach in Nissequogue after their jet ski engine failed.

8.  – A robber fled from the TD Bank at 714 Smithtown Bypass with an undisclosed amount of cash. The man was described as black, 30-40 years old and 6 feet 2 inches tall wearing a dark shirt and blue jeans, a fishermen-style hat and glasses.

9.  – Kurt Meyer Jr., of Smithtown, was arrested for stabbing three men outside of Eagle's Pub on Smithtown Bypass. According to Lieutenant Fitzpatrick of the Suffolk County Police Fourth Precinct, meyer stabbed the three men with a pocket knife in the arms and legs following a confrontation outside of the pub, then fled the scene, only to be found by police officers and arrested several blocks from the bar.

10. – Richard Primo, 30, of Lake Grove was pronounced dead at Stony Brook University Medical Center after a crash at the intersection of Route 347 and Lake Avenue in Nesconset.