New York Attorney General Letitia James has released security-camera footage from her office's investigation into the death of Hilton Spokony, the 45-year-old East Patchogue man killed in a June crash involving an off-duty Suffolk County police officer. The footage, captured from three separate cameras, shows the moment a Kia Forte carrying Spokony collided with a pickup truck at a North Patchogue intersection, sending both vehicles off the road.
James's office said Thursday that it had released footage from three security cameras that captured the incident, according to einpresswire.com. Spokony died on June 12 following the crash, which involved an off-duty officer with the Suffolk County Police Department, per the same release. As Newsday reports, the officer has been identified as Michael Aulivola, 55, of Holtsville.
According to Newsday, Spokony was riding as a passenger in a 2023 Kia Forte driven by Meredith Hill, 79, of East Patchogue, when the crash occurred. The Kia was heading southbound on Waverly Avenue and attempting a left turn onto Buckley Road when it collided with Aulivola's northbound 2016 Dodge Ram, Suffolk police told the outlet. Newsday separately reported that Hill is Spokony's mother-in-law.
Crash Sent Both Vehicles Into Grassy Area
The collision pushed both vehicles off the road and into a grassy area near the intersection, Newsday reported. Spokony was taken to NYU Langone Hospital in Suffolk, where he was pronounced dead, per the outlet's reporting. Newsday reported that Aulivola and Hill were brought to Stony Brook University Hospital. The einpresswire.com account of the Attorney General's statement said they were treated for non-life-threatening injuries before being released.
A separate report from longislandtraffic.com placed the crash at roughly 10:10 p.m. at the Waverly Avenue and Buckley Road intersection, describing the same southbound-to-northbound collision pattern. That report dated the crash to June 11, but the Attorney General's office dates the incident to June 12, 2026. News 12 Long Island similarly described one man killed and two others hurt in the North Patchogue collision late that Thursday night.
Why the Attorney General's Office Is Involved
The investigation falls under New York Executive Law Section 70-b, which established the Attorney General's Office of Special Investigation, according to the text of the statute posted by nysenate.gov. Under that law, the office reviews incidents in which a police or peace officer may have caused a death regardless of whether the officer was on or off duty at the time, per the einpresswire.com account of the case. The Office of Special Investigation opened its inquiry into Spokony's death, according to a statement attributed to the Attorney General's office.
James's office has not said whether the investigation will lead to criminal charges, and the release of the footage did not include any assessment of guilt or innocence. The Office of Special Investigation may eventually issue a Notification of Investigative Findings once an inquiry concludes, though the office's own policy notes that writing, review and approval of such findings takes time, according to guidance posted by the Attorney General's office.
