Setauket Doctor Pleads Guilty in Fatal Smithtown Hit-and-Run

A Setauket cardiologist has pleaded guilty to manslaughter, DWI and leaving the scene of a fatal 2014 crash in Smithtown, Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota announced Wendesday.

Thomas Stavola was being drunk when his 2013 Audi struck a 2009 Mercedes at the intersection of East Main Street and Route 111 shortly before 4 a.m. on June 14, 2014. Stavola’s blood, drawn 90 minutes after the crash, had a blood alcohol content of .10, Spota said.

Monica Peterman, the sole occupant of the Mercedes, was on her way to work as an x-ray technician at St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown at the time of the crash. Peterman, a 45-year-old mother of three, died from injuries sustained in the crash at the same hospital, police said.

“What I found most troubling is the fact that a physician chose not to render any kind of aid or use his cellphone to call 911 to get some assistance for a seriously injured motorist,” Spota of Stavola in 2014.

After Stavola’s guilty plea before State Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho, relatives of Peterman said they fully supported the outcome of the case, which will see Stavola serve two years behind bars, Spota said. Stavola will also serve five years probation.

Monica Peterman’s husband, Russell said his family realized they had to let go of the anger they felt toward Stavola, according to Spota, and that Stavola is deserving of another chance “to go back to helping people.”