Crime & Safety

Second Bicyclist Dies This Week After Being Struck By A Car

Police believe the bicyclist crossed into the vehicle's lane of traffic.

A second bicyclist in two days has been killed after being hit by a car on area roads.

Southampton Town police said on Friday at around 7:45 p.m., a report was received of a motor vehicle accident involving a single motor vehicle and a bicyclist in Flanders.

The report was called into police headquarters by the Flanders Fire Department, who were responding to a fire alarm in their district.  

Find out what's happening in Riverheadwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Members of the Southampton Town police department’s patrol division, community response unit, and detective division rushed to the scene, along with members of the state police and the Flanders-Northampton Volunteer Ambulance.  

Police said a vehicle, described as a gray 1998 Grand Cherokee, was traveling north in the northbound lane of Flanders Road, near the Cabana Latina, at the intersection of Flanders Road and Cypress Avenue, when it was involved in a motor vehicle accident with a bicyclist.  

Find out what's happening in Riverheadwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Investigators believe the bicyclist, Robert L. Nelson, 50, of Flanders, crossed into the vehicle’s lane of travel leading to the accident, causing him to suffer serious physical injury.

Nelson was treated on scene by the Flanders-Northampton Volunteer Ambulance; he was subsequently transported to Peconic Bay Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead as a result of the injuries he sustained in the accident.

The on-scene investigation led to a road closure on Flanders Road between Wood Road Trail and Evergreen Road, in Flanders.

The accident was the second fatality involving a motor vehicle and a bicyclist in two days in the area: A bicyclist was struck and killed Thursday afternoon after police say a man driving under the influence of drugs and who was high on methadone with his four children in the car crossed over Route 25 near Calverton National Cemetary and hit the man head-on.

Riverhead Police identified the alleged driver – charged with violating Leandra's Law, a felony – as Middle Island resident William Slatton, age 30. Cops said four children under the age of nine were in the car at the time of the accident.

Police said Slatton was driving a 2005 Toyota Camry westbound on Route 25 when his car veered across the road, into oncoming traffic, and hitting a bicyclist later identified as Brightwaters resident Steven F. Kane, age 57.

Southampton Town Police Department are conducting an on-going investigation into the Flanders incident. Anyone with information about the accident is encouraged to call the Southampton Town police department’s detective division at 631-702-2230, the Southampton Town police department’s general line at 631-728-3400, or the CRIME TIPS Hotline, at 631-728-3454.  All calls will be kept confidential.  


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.