UPDATE: Services Scheduled For Hampton Bays Woman Killed In Flanders Road Crash

UPDATE, Friday, 5:15 p.m.:

The family of Barbara Tocci, the Hampton Bays woman who was killed in the Flanders Road crash on Thursday, have announced her wake and funeral services.

Visitation will be held on Sunday, January 19, at the McLaughlin Heppner Funeral Home on Marcy Avenue in Riverhead, from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. A funeral service will follow at 10 a.m. on Monday, January 20, at the funeral home, with burial to follow at the Flanders Cemetery.

The family asks that donations in Ms. Tocci’s name be made to Camp Good Grief at East End Hospice, P.O. Box 1048, Westhampton Beach, NY, 11978.

Southampton Town Police detectives said they are still investigating whether the surface of Flanders Road, or the potholes that riddle the state-owned highway, contributed to fatal crash. Detectives, however, said they do not know for certain what caused the accident.

PSEG employees who were on scene shortly after the crash, and declined to give their names, said Mr. Pepe's truck struck a pothole, which caused it to cross into the northbound lane.

A Hampton Bays woman was killed in Thursday morning’s head-on crash on Flanders Road, Southampton Town Police said in a press release.

Barbara Tocci, 47, was pronounced dead at the scene, they said.

Police said Ms. Tocci was driving northbound on Flanders Road in a black 2000 Ford Explorer when a PSEG utility truck, driven by Michael Pepe, 53, of Bayport, crossed into the oncoming lane and struck her vehicle head-on.

Flanders Fire Department volunteers had to extricate her body from her vehicle.

A Flanders-Northampton Volunteer Ambulance transported Mr. Pepe to Peconic Bay Medical Center where he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said. Authorities said they did not expect to file criminal charges against Mr. Pepe.

The press release prepared by Town Police Detective Patrick Aube did not say what caused Mr. Pepe's vehicle to veer into oncoming traffic.

The New York State Police Forensic ID and Collision Reconstruction Unit also responded to the scene to assist with the investigation, as did the Suffolk County District Attorney's Vehicular Crimes Bureau. Police said the New York State Department of Transportation responded to repair damage to the road.

Both vehicles involved in the crash were impounded and transported to Town Police headquarters in Hampton Bays for a safety check.

Original Story:

A stretch of Flanders Road remained closed as of 9:40 a.m. Thursday as New York State Troopers and Southampton Town Police continued to investigate a fatal two-car accident that occurred about 90 minutes earlier.

Authorities said a Public Service Enterprise Group, which recently took over operations from the Long Island Power Authority, truck hit a black sport utility vehicle at around 8 a.m. on Flanders Road, near Hubbard County Park. As of 9:40 a.m., officials had not yet removed the body of the person who was driving the SUV.

State Police officials on the scene confirmed that authorities were waiting for representatives of the Suffolk County medical examiner’s office to respond to the accident.

The driver of the PSEG truck was transported by the Flanders-Northampton Volunteer Ambulance to the Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead, but officials provided no further information about his condition.

Both directions of Flanders Road between Pleasure Drive and Bellows Pond Road remained closed, and it was unclear when the road would reopen to traffic. The Flanders Fire Department also responded to the scene and was redirecting traffic.