
A 25-year-old Amagansett man was killed in a one-car accident early Saturday morning after his truck left the roadway and struck a utility pole.
The man, Erik D. Payne, was wearing his seat belt at the time of the accident, police said, but died when his 2001 Ford pickup truck struck the pole.
East Hampton Town Police said that they received a call about the accident shortly after 2:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. Police and Amagansett Fire Department crews responded to the scene but found Mr. Payne unresponsive. He was pronounced dead at the scene by a Suffolk County medical examiner later that morning.
An investigation of the accident is ongoing, but police said this week that Mr. Payne was driving north on Windmill Lane in Amagansett when his truck apparently drifted onto the shoulder, where the tires hit snow piled alongside the roadway, causing the vehicle to jerk to the right and into the utility pole.
Captain Chris Anderson said that officers investigating the crash were looking at the possibility that Mr. Payne had fallen asleep at the wheel and drifted off the roadway on a gradual curve in the road. He said speed was not believed to have been a factor.
Mr. Payne grew up in Amagansett, graduated from East Hampton High School, worked at a local auto repair shop during the day, and was a bartender and played in a band at night.
Messages of grief and condolences filtered throughout the East Hampton community as word of Mr. Payne’s death spread.
“He was just one of the nicest guys you ever knew,” said a neighbor, Cathy Hansen. “If you ever needed anything he was there to do it. He was fun to be around. He was an amazing artist, both musically and he used to do these beautiful paintings on guitars. He was a hard worker doing his best to survive. This is so tragic.”
The messages plastered across the ether of Facebook were transcribed in chalk onto the chalkboard of Wolfie’s Tavern in Springs, where Mr. Payne worked a part-time second job tending bar at night.
“These kids have been coming in here in tears,” said his boss at Wolfie’s Tavern, Gino Bombace. “His friends came in and drew their messages to him on our blackboards—‘forever in our hearts.’ They are just kids, you know, and they were in tears. That’s really how people felt about him. It’s so upsetting.”
Mr. Bombace said that Mr. Payne had been working part-time at the tavern for a little more than six months but had not worked on the night of his death.
Mr. Payne graduated from East Hampton High School in 2007 and from the Baran Institute of Technology, where he studied auto body repair, in 2009.
He was also the lead singer of the locally popular band Casanova Frankenstein.
He is survived by his mother, Diane Lutzen-Payne; father Wesley Payne and wife Virginia; and sisters Christina Fuller, Erin Easter and Nicole Payne and their families.
A graveside service will be held on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Oak Grove Cemetery. The family asks that donations in Mr. Payne’s name be made to Elsa’s Ark.
DUI's fatalities are down over ...more 50% in the last 30 years, which doesn't support your assertions.
I am appauled to me to read the comments that show little or no respect towards the family of the person who died. Certainly your words do not harm Eric, he is gone, but to those who loved him and mourn his death, your ...more words and accusations hit them to the core. In a sense you have given him a second death in the eyes of those who loved him.
There is a time for words, for facts to come to light, now is not the time to pass judgement or speak as one with the "Facts". Rather it is a time to mourn a tragic loss.To reflect on his short life. I will speak to that and say what I do know as facts. Eric was a compassionate man, soft spoken, caring person. In all the years I knew him, I had nothing but the highest respect for him as a person; a man who would go out of his way to help anyone in need.... To the Payne family my heart and prayers go out to you during this time of suffering.
please keep your ill appropriate comments to your newsday thread. you take info from here and pass it along there to press your agenda, like you actually have facts. instead you are spreading rumors.
you are afforded your own opinion but it is my opinion that you should only celebrate a persons life instead of piecemealing online post to come to your own conclusions.
Wit the "urs" and "u"s You're going to question the use of the word "ain't"? Rich.
FWIW, my life has been and is far more than I could have dreamed.
Now grow up, or go back to the other blog you post at a dozen times a day.
Again, personal questions are in response to your "Stolen Valor" claims of being a Warrant Officer is the USArmy. You aren't, and that is fraud.
You HAVE threatened me and 27east took that comment down.
Most people I know only own one home and live in it here in the Hamptons. See you on snoozeday.