A Port Jefferson teen pleaded guilty Tuesday to aggravated vehicular homicide and other charges for a 2024 Centereach crash that killed a 73-year-old woman while he was driving high and livestreaming on social media in a stolen SUV, prosecutors said.
Matthew Papile, 18, pleaded guilty Sept. 15 before Acting Supreme Court Justice Karen Kerr. Papile was 16 at the time of the May 4, 2024 crash that killed Marion Napolitano and seriously injured a passenger in her vehicle, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney.
Prosecutors said Papile livestreamed himself driving a stolen 2008 Land Rover LR2 on Instagram while impaired by marijuana.
Earlier that day, a Coram resident had reported the blue Land Rover missing from his driveway.
At about 9:10 p.m., Papile was driving east on Middle Country Road when he struck the side of another vehicle and fled, prosecutors said. He continued driving recklessly, weaving across lanes, cutting off other vehicles and speeding.
Papile then slammed into the rear of the 1994 Toyota Corolla driven by Napolitano, sending her car off the road and into a telephone pole and tree, prosecutors said.
Napolitano was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Papile’s front-seat passenger suffered a traumatic brain injury and remains seriously injured more than two years after the crash, according to prosecutors.
After the collision, the stolen Land Rover spun out and stopped in the center lane. Prosecutors said Papile got out and ran from the scene.
Three Good Samaritans, including an off-duty Suffolk County police officer, chased Papile and detained him until responding officers arrived.
Police said Papile showed signs of marijuana impairment. He admitted smoking marijuana and consented to a blood test, according to prosecutors. Toxicology testing later detected THC in his system.
Law enforcement also recovered the Instagram posts that prosecutors said showed Papile broadcasting his erratic driving leading up to the crash.
Papile pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide, second-degree manslaughter, aggravated vehicular assault, second-degree assault, leaving the scene of an incident without reporting resulting in death, third-degree criminal possession of stolen property, driving while impaired by drugs and reckless driving.
“Today’s guilty plea underscores the outrageous and utterly unacceptable decision to get behind the wheel of a stolen vehicle while impaired and drive recklessly through the streets of Suffolk County,” Tierney said.
Papile is scheduled to return to court Oct. 15 and is expected to be sentenced to six to 18 years in prison.
