Retired Southold Teacher Pleads Guilty to DWI Charge After Fatal Accident

Diane O’Neill, a retired Southold High School teacher who was charged with a DWI after a Jamesport crash where a pedestrian was hit and died in January, will not be serving jail time after pleaded guilty to a DWI charge in court on Monday.

O’Neill, 66, of Farmingville, was sentenced to one year of conditional discharge and will have to drive her car with an ignition interlock device, according to a report in Newsday.

On Jan. 13, police found that 90-year-old George J. Kurovics, of Jamesport, was struck while walking on Main Road by a 2007 Mercedes driven by O‘Neill, police said.

Officers at the scene determined that O’Neill was intoxicated and she was placed under arrest, police said.

Kurovics was a beloved barber in Rocky Point, where he ran George’s Rocky Point Barber Shop since 1948.

O’Neill originally pleaded not guilty to the charge of misdemeanor DWI during her arraignment in January.

Her charges were not upgraded because she was found to be driving under the speed limit when she hit Kurovics, and because she pulled over to call 911, Newsday reports.

O’Neill told police she had two glasses of wine at dinner and her blood-alcohol level was at the legal limit for driving, 0.08 percent, according to Newsday.

However, Kurovics family believes that she ”got off easy.”

“It’s painful to us to have to cope with this loss and know that she’s getting off so easy for killing someone due to her irresponsibility and recklessness,” George Kurovics, 34, Kurovics son said according to Newsday.