Riverhead Man Dies After E-Bike Crashes Into Fence

A 54-year-old Riverhead man died Wednesday evening after the electric bicycle he was riding struck a chain-link fence in the rear parking lot of a busy Old Country Road shopping center, police said.

Officers responded to Roanoke Plaza at 1080 Old Country Rd. just before 5:45 p.m. and found John Sammartino unconscious and in traumatic arrest near a Ross store. He was not wearing a helmet, police said. Sammartino was transported to Peconic Bay Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Investigators said he had been riding the e-bike when it collided with a chain-link fence along the western tree line of the parking lot. Anyone who witnessed the crash is asked to contact Riverhead police at 631-727-4500.

The fatal crash follows heightened scrutiny of e-bike safety on Long Island. Last month, the Riverhead Town Board began actively enforcing a new local law, passed earlier this summer, that sets age requirements for operators, mandates helmets, imposes speed limits and bans certain classes of electric bicycles. The town said it acted after determining that the growing use of e-bikes and e-scooters — particularly by younger riders — posed a significant danger to operators, pedestrians and motorists.

Suffolk County police had separately announced their own e-bike enforcement efforts earlier this year.

Sammartino's death is the latest in a series of serious e-bike incidents across Long Island and reflects a wider public safety challenge as the vehicles grow in popularity.