6 hours ago
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A Virginia woman arrested in the fatal hit-and-run death of hot shot Hamptons real estate agent Sara Burack thought she’d hit a traffic cone, her lawyer claimed during a Saturday morning court appearance.
Marine biologist Amanda Kempton pleaded not guilty and was released from police custody after her family, who live in Manorville, put up collateral in lieu of $100,000 bail, officials said during the proceeding in Southampton Town Justice Court.
Kempton, 32, choked back tears as prosecutor MacDonald Drane requested the high bail, describing her as a flight risk who fled the scene and who had been set to return to Virginia Saturday for a wedding.
She faces four years in prison on a felony charge of leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident in which there is a fatality.
The scientist allegedly spent time at a tavern before the Thursday afternoon incident in which she allegedly mowed down Burack in Hampton Bays, but alcohol is not considered a factor in the case, Drane said.
Burack, 40, who specialized in high end properties and starred in the hit “Million Dollar Beach House,” was walking down the side of the road carrying a pink suitcase when she was struck on Montauk Highway.
Kempton, who previously worked for the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton, wore an orange sweatshirt and black slacks as her family sat silently in the courtroom.
The afternoon was foggy and Kempton did not see the victim — believing instead that she had hit a traffic cone, her attorney, William Kehoe, told the court.
She left the scene and went to a friend’s home, where she found Burack’s large, pink, wheeled suitcase lodged underneath her vehicle, Kehoe added.
Authorities used a license plate reader to track Kempton’s movements and found her vehicle, with a damaged front end, at her family’s home, prosecutors said.
Kempton and her family declined comment after the proceeding.
English (US)