A Long Island man has been indicted for boating while intoxicated after a Hamptons crash over Memorial Day weekend that left his fiancée with a serious spinal injury and endangered two young children, officials announced Thursday.
Edward Hillkewicz, 28, of Mastic Beach, is accused of crashing a 33-foot boat into a jetty while crossing Peconic Bay on his way back to Hampton Bays after drinking in Greenport, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
According to investigators, Hillkewicz was allegedly navigating the boat at a high rate of speed when he crashed into a jetty in front of Meschutt Park.
The impact of the crash caused the vessel to catapult into the Shinnecock Canal wall, bounce off it and then slam into another section of the jetty before ultimately running aground on the sand.
Authorities say there were five other people on the boat at the time: two young girls, ages 2 and 6, and three other adults, including Hillkewicz’s fiancée, who was seriously injured in the crash.
The woman, identified by local media as 28-year-old Brooke Skrocki, also of Mastic Beach, was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital, where she underwent two surgeries on her spine, before being transferred to another hospital for rehabilitation.
“Currently, she has limited movement from the waist down,” the DA’s office said Thursday.
The four other passengers, including the two girls, who are Skrocki’s daughters, were not seriously injured.
Hillkewicz was arrested by Southampton Town Police at the scene. He was arraigned Wednesday in Suffolk County Court on 10 charges, including second-degree assault and operating a vessel while intoxicated with a child.
According to a GoFundMe page set up by Skrocki’s aunt, her “path to recovery will be extensive.”
In a recent update to the page, Melissa Barravecchio wrote that her niece had “taken some steps backward but the family is holding strong that she will continue to fight.”
Hillkewicz pleaded not guilty at his arraignment and was placed on supervised release. He’s due back in court on Sept. 4 and faces up to seven years in prison if convicted of the top charge.
