Privacy update — September 18, 2026: Identifying details have been removed under our victim privacy policy.
What Happened
A 20-year-old man from Mount Sinai was killed just before 10 p.m. on August 21, 2024, when his motorcycle collided with a turning car at the intersection of Route 25A and Oakland Avenue in Miller Place, according to Patch.
The motorcyclist was riding his Suzuki GSX-R600 westbound on Route 25A when a 2017 Toyota Prius, traveling eastbound, turned left onto Oakland Avenue. His motorcycle struck the side of the Prius during the turn. Suffolk County Police pronounced the rider dead at the scene; a physician assistant from the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner made the official determination.
The Prius driver, a 49-year-old woman from Sound Beach, was not injured. Suffolk County Police filed no charges against her. Both the Suzuki GSX-R600 and the Toyota Prius were impounded for safety checks, per Patch’s reporting.
The young man had just gotten engaged before his death, his mother told Patch. She described him as a careful rider who had passed his motorcycle permit test, though he had not performed as well on his regular driver’s license exam. He worked as a mechanic, was well-known in the local motorcycle community, and had been drawn to engines since he was seven years old.
Two years on, his mother is organizing a public candlelight vigil at the crash site for Friday, August 21, 2026, at 9 p.m. This year’s event adds balloon releases to the candles. She named it “Light the Night.” “I call it light the night because you know it might rain that night,” she told Patch. She is inviting anyone who knew her son, as well as community members who did not, to attend.
The crash site at Route 25A and Oakland Avenue has become a regular gathering place over the past two years. Friends and community members have left flowers and candles beneath a sign at the crash site. The first anniversary vigil in 2025 drew close to 100 attendees. “I want justice for my son,” the victim’s mother told Patch. “I want community support, and I want that road to be a little safer for everybody, not just motorcyclists.”
Location & Road Context
The intersection of Route 25A and Oakland Avenue sits in Miller Place in central-northern Suffolk County. The Route 25A corridor between Route 347 and William Floyd Parkway has a documented history of vehicle crashes, including fatal ones, according to Patch, and has drawn concern from nearby residents for years.
The victim’s mother told Patch she had read of at least four fatal crashes in the weeks before the Patch story published on August 17, 2026. She said left-turn collisions are the most common crash type she has observed. Suffolk County as a whole has seen an increase in motorcycle crashes this summer, per the same report.