Witnesses and court documents gave new details Monday about the alleged drunken driving crash that destroyed a fortune’s worth of paintings and sculpture works at a Montauk art show over the weekend.

A security guard working an overnight shift at the Carl Fisher Plaza pavilion, Kyle Thomas Pomerantz, told police in a statement that about 3 a.m. Sunday he narrowly missed being struck after hearing "a loud crashing noise directly behind me. ... I rolled out of my chair to my right, at which time I saw a gray colored SUV barreling towards us."

At the wheel, according to police, was Nicoly Ribeiro De Souza, 23, of Farmingville, charged with driving while intoxicated and six counts of reckless criminal mischief after allegedly driving into the pavilion and hitting tents in which artwork was being stored overnight, causing an estimated $151,045 in damage.

According to Pomerantz's sworn statement to police, De Souza told him she and another woman, her passenger in the Nissan Rogue, had just left the Surf Lodge, a nightlife hot spot on nearby Edgemere Street. Pomerantz told police he felt lucky to be alive.

"I thought we were going to be struck and we would be dead," he told police.

De Souza did not yet have an attorney Monday, according to a spokeswoman for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office. No one at the Surf Lodge agreed to speak on the record, but a man who answered the phone Monday said police had visited the business to review security camera footage. East Hampton Town police did not respond to a request for comment. 

John Papaleo, an art fair organizer and EMT who said he reached the pavilion minutes after the crash, told Newsday on Monday that the SUV had driven south from Edgemere Street and through a wooden barrier around the pavilion.

The SUV "hit it so hard the barrier ended up 100 feet away," he said. "The post it was connected to was ripped completely out of the ground."

The SUV continued past a gazebo in the middle of the pavilion and stopped near Pomerantz’s Toyota Tacoma, Papaleo said.

Papaleo said the crash would devastate the artists whose work was ruined.

"A lot of these are young artists, breaking into this type of field, going to shows, bringing the product along and trying to sell it," he said. "This is the beginning of the season for these types of shows and they’re out for a season at very least. If they can recover financially, it’s going to be next year."

He said dozens of artists were affected, including many who live on Long Island. 

Papaleo said the Montauk Artists Association, which sponsored the art fair, still hopes to hold an August event at the pavilion, though the group's leaders will consult with town officials over safety. He hopes the area can be made more secure but not fortified. "It's a park — you don't want it to look like a prison," he said.

A spokesman for East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said that she and town public safety officials at a meeting Wednesday "will be reviewing this incident, and what further steps may be appropriate."

East Hampton Town police made 190 DWI arrests in 2024, a five-year high, according to the department's annual report. The town was rocked by a June crash involving another alleged case of drunk driving that left an East Hampton High School student dead and six teens hospitalized. 

East Hampton Town councilman Tom Flight said Montauk did not drive that town-wide uptick in DWI arrests, though he said there had been nightlife issues related to rideshare vehicles blocking roads near some businesses as they waited for passengers. 

"When you go from a small year-round population to a sudden increase in visitors and operators there are always going to be those flash points," he said. 

Flight said that crashes at the pavilion were rare but that authorities would evaluate the pressure-treated wood barriers that had provided some degree of protection.

"Whether we need something more resilient is a valid question."