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Real Estate Developer Indicted For Leaving Passenger To Die During Hamptons Drunk Driving Incident
By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 23, 2015
Modified Dec 23, 2015
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 23, 2015
Modified Dec 23, 2015
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In the fall, a Manhattan developer who crashed his Porsche into a utility pole in the Hamptons allegedly dragged his dying passenger out of the car and left him for dead outside his house. Sean Ludwick, 42, has now been indicted, and will be arraigned on nine criminal charges including drunk driving and aggravated vehicular homicide. He faces up to 32 years in prison for the fatal incident.
On August 31st, Ludwick was driving with Paul Hansen, a real estate agent with Douglas Elliman Real Estate in Sag Harbor, when he crashed his Porsche into a utility pole steps from Hansen's home. Ludwick was arrested soon after when police found him with his vehicle some distance down the road. Hansen's friends say that before he fled the scene, Ludwick removed Hansen's wallet and identification and threw it into the woods as he tried to drive away.
A friend of Hansen's told us: "It's almost physically impossible for [Hansen] to be thrown from the car. He didn't go through the windshield. He didn't go straight up into the air and land. He was taken from the car. This is something that law enforcement alluded to: Sean Ludwick pulled him out and dumped his body and left him to die. He didn't call 911, he tried to cover up what happened."
Ludwick didn't do himself any favors when he appeared in court in September and didn't seem to be paying attention, offending the family of the victim: "Looking bored, he pulled a folded, two-inch-thick wad of bills from his pocket and counted them for several minutes," the Post wrote. "We have come to expect nothing from Mr. Ludwick," Hansen’s brother-in-law, Tom Morrissey, said at the time. "No humanity. No courtesy for human life."
Ludwick also faces a civil suit from Hanson’s widow seeking financial restitution for her and her two sons.
Tagged
drunk driving
Hamptons
long island
paul hansen
sag harbor
sean ludwick
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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