Fugitive Pleads Guilty Years After DWI Crash Kills Friend: DA

EAST HAMPTON, NY — Nearly 20 years have passed since a man escaped a burning car after he drove drunk and crashed, then told authorities he'd been alone — while his friend was inside the flame-engulfed vehicle, Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini said.

On Wednesday, fugitive Wilson Pantosin, 45, of East Hampton, pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the fatal 1999 DWI crash, Sini said.

Pantosin pleaded guilty to second degree manslaughter, a felony; two counts of second degree vehicular manslaughter, a felony; and two counts of driving while intoxicated, a misdemeanor, Sini said.

“Almost 20 years after the defendant killed his friend while driving drunk, justice is finally being served for the victim,” Sini said.

The conviction, Sini said, "was the result of great work and collaboration by my office, particularly Assistant District Attorney Maggie Bopp, and the Suffolk County Police Department’s fugitive squad who made sure this defendant answered for his crimes.”

On Jan. 28, 1999, Pantosin, then 25, was driving a 1995 Dodge Neon northbound on Hog Creek Road in East Hampton when he lost control of the vehicle and drove across the oncoming traffic lane and onto the southbound shoulder, Sini said.

The vehicle struck a tree, a utility pole and a guy-wire before overturning and catching fire; Pantosin was able to escape the vehicle and suffered minor lacerations to his head, Sini said.

Responding East Hampton Town Police officers asked Pantosin if there was a passenger in the vehicle and he responded that there was not, Sini said.

After personnel from the Springs Fire Department extinguished the flames, law enforcement officers discovered the remains of Wilson Illaisaca, 25, of East Hampton, in the passenger seat of the vehicle, Sini said.

Illaisaca’s cause of death was determined to be thermal injury and smoke inhalation with blunt force trauma as a contributing factor, according to the Suffolk County Medical Examiner.

Approximately 55 minutes after the crash, a toxicology report found Pantosin’s blood alcohol level to be 0.22 percent, nearly three times the legal limit of .08 percent, Sini said.

Bail was set at $1,000 at Pantosin’s arraignment in East Hampton Town Justice Court, which he posted, Sini said.

Pantosin then fled Suffolk County sometime before his next scheduled court appearance in March, 1999, Sini said.

In 2003, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office indicted Pantosin for manslaughter and other charges in connection with the crash, Sini said.

Pantosin was identified by law enforcement officers in Harris County, TX, as having outstanding warrants in Suffolk County; detectives from the Suffolk County Police Department’s fugitive squad were notified and traveled to Texas, where they arrested Pantosin at a residence, Sini said.

The fugitive squad extradited Pantosin from Texas and brought him back to Suffolk County on Feb. 28, 2018, Sini said.

Pantosin faces a maximum sentence of five to 15 years in prison; he is scheduled to be sentenced in front of Suffolk County Acting Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho on Jan. 28, 2019 — exactly 20 years after the fatal crash, Sini said.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Maggie Bopp of the vehicular crime bureau.

Patch photo courtesy Suffolk County Police Department.