A Virginia woman arrested in the fatal hit-and-run death of hot shot Hamptons real estate agent Sara Burack thought she’d hit a traffic cone, her lawyer claimed during a Saturday morning court appearance.
Marine biologist Amanda Kempton pleaded not guilty and was released from police custody after her family, who live in Manorville, put up collateral in lieu of $100,000 bail, officials said during her arraignment in Southampton Town Justice Court.
Kempton, 32, choked back tears as prosecutor MacDonald Drane requested the high bail, describing her as a flight risk who fled the scene and who had been set to return to Virginia Saturday for a wedding.
She faces seven years in prison on a felony charge of leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident in which there is a fatality.
The scientist allegedly spent time at a tavern before the Thursday incident in which she allegedly mowed down Burack in Hampton Bays, prosecutors said.
Alcohol is not considered a factor in the case, Kempton’s lawyer told the court.
Burack, 40, who specialized in high end properties and starred in the hit “Million Dollar Beach House,” was walking in the roadway in the westbound lane carrying a pink suitcase when she was struck on Montauk Highway.
Kempton grew up in Virginia, and holds degrees in microbiology and marine biology from George Mason University and Nova Southeastern University in Florida, respectively, according to social media.
She has been working this year at 4-H’s Camp Jekyll, located on Georgia’s Jekyll Island, according to a Facebook post.
Kempton, who previously worked for a museum in Bridgehampton, wore an orange sweatshirt and black slacks as her family sat silently in the courtroom.
The area was foggy and Kempton did not see the victim — believing instead that she had hit a traffic cone, her attorney, William Keahon, told the court.
She left the scene and went to a friend’s home, where she found Burack’s large, pink, wheeled suitcase lodged underneath her vehicle, Keahon added.
Authorities used a license plate reader to track Kempton’s movements and found her vehicle, with a damaged front end, at her family’s home, prosecutors said.
Kempton and her family declined comment after the proceeding.
— Additional reporting by Brandon Cruz
