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Four-year-old Gracelyn Perkowski died at Stony Brook University Hospital on Sunday, January 16, succumbing to injuries she sustained in a Flanders Road collision three days earlier.
Four-year-old Gracelyn Perkowski died at Stony Brook University Hospital on Sunday, January 16, succumbing to injuries she sustained in a Flanders Road collision three days earlier that led to felony charges of driving while impaired by drugs for her mother Amy Wesolowski, 34.
High on prescription narcotics, police said Wesolowski drove out of her driveway and into traffic on Flanders Road, striking another car, with Gracelyn in the back seat.
State Police Captain Christopher Casale was among responders to the crash that occurred at 11:41 a.m. on Thursday, January 13. He spoke of witnessing “a very horrific scene.”
Wesolowski, with her daughter in the backseat of her 2005 RAV 4, had driven straight out of the driveway without stopping, right into the path of a 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan operated by Sonya Fezza, 29, of Water Mill.
Gracelyn was unresponsive as rescuers began to descend on the scene. Bystanders pulled the child out of the car, and Public Safety and Emergency Management Administrator Ryan Murphy reported that Town of Southampton Animal Control Officer Colleen Kidd, a one-time volunteer EMS provider, was near the accident scene and quickly sprang into action.
Resuscitated, the child was taken first to Peconic Bay Medical Center and later transported to Stony Brook University Hospital with critical spine and head injuries. She died three days later.
The drivers of both cars were treated and released from the Riverhead hospital.
Casale confirmed Wesolowski’s admission listed in court documents that she was on three different prescription medications for which she did not have a prescription: Adderall, Vyvanse and Suboxone. Adderall is an amphetamine used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Vyvanse is also a stimulant used to treat ADHD, and Suboxone is a medication used to treat opioid addiction. The driver’s admission has yet to be confirmed by lab analysis, the captain said Tuesday.
At the scene, Wesolowski “appeared to be under the influence of some type of narcotic,” the captain said. One eyewitness reported seeing her “just sitting” in the car as rescuers tried frantically to revive her child. Court papers report her sitting in the driver’s seat with constricted pupils and an inability to remember simple instructions. She performed poorly on standard field sobriety tests, court papers allege.
There was a child booster seat in the car; whether Gracelyn was strapped in is still under investigation, Casale said. Documents filed in court simply place the child in the rear driver’s side seat.
Flanders Road between Pleasure Drive and Longneck Boulevard was closed for some four hours as investigators processed the scene. A drug recognition expert was on hand.
Wesolowski’s driver’s license was suspended at the time of the tragic crash. The suspension relates to failure to answer a summons out of Riverhead.
She was charged with a felony count of aggravated DWI with a child, and misdemeanor counts of driving while ability impaired by drugs and endangering the welfare of a child. Arraigned in Southampton Justice Court on Friday, she was represented by legal aid and released on her own recognizance.
Murphy was effusive in his praise of the effort made by Kidd to revive Gracelyn on Thursday. “She was unresponsive and her color was horrible when I got to her,” Kidd said later that day.
Returning to work on Tuesday, Murphy recounted that five days earlier, “we were all hoping and praying she would pull through.” Kidd, he said, was terribly saddened by the news and wondered if she could have done more.
“I keep stressing we’re all still so very proud of what she did, jumping into action like that … because of what she did and because of what the EMS professionals from Flanders Northampton Ambulance did, her grandparents were able to be by her side in the hospital. That was a gift to family members.” Murphy said.
Kidd’s effort enabled the family to have those final moments with the little girl. “That makes all the difference in the world,” Murphy offered.
This week, two fundraisers are being held to honor Gracelyn’s memory. St. David’s School, where she was a student, hosted “Gelato for Gracelyn” on January 18 and will hold it again on January 20. Proceeds from the sale of ice cream and sweets will go directly to the family.
On Saturday, North Fork Brewing Company will hold a fundraiser from noon to 8 p.m.
“We can’t imagine the pain that her family is going through, and we hope that the North Fork community can come together and help to alleviate any medical bills and financial burden on the family for Gracelyn,” a post on the Riverhead brewery’s social media states.
