Alleged speeding SUV driver who seriously injured bicyclist in triathlon race pleads not guilty, authorities say
Sal Gomez, holding Winston, with his son Tyler, who received a kidney from his father in 2021. Sal Gomez, of Selden, was seriously injured when he was struck by an SUV driver during a triathlon in Shirley earlier this month. Credit: James Carbone
A Levittown woman pleaded not guilty Friday to allegedly speeding an SUV through a triathlon route in Shirley and seriously injuring a bicyclist who was participating in the race, according to the authorities.
Driver Jakeline Figueroa, 29, was freed on supervised release, according to Shannon Wilson, a spokeswoman for the Suffolk County district attorney’s office.
The plea was Figueroa’s first appearance in the case, held before Judge James Saladino of First District Court in Central Islip, online court records show. The case is due back in court Sept. 22.
The court appearance was almost three weeks after Figueroa had been issued an appearance ticket for the crash, which happened Aug. 6 at 7:15 a.m. — during the bicycle portion of the race. She allegedly tried to exit the parking lot of Smith Point County Park despite the area being closed for the race to vehicular traffic, police said.
The bicyclist was flown by helicopter to Stony Brook University Hospital for serious injuries, the release said. An update on his condition wasn't available Saturday. A woman in the SUV, a 2023 Nissan Rogue, sustained minor injuries.
The triathlete is Sal Gomez, 43, of Selden, according to his wife, Jill. The Gomez family was featured in a recent Netflix documentary, which aired earlier this year, about Sal donating a kidney to his 15-year-old son.
Figueroa is facing several charges, all misdemeanors: speeding, reckless driving, aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and using a vehicle without an ignition interlock device.
Interlock devices are small Breathalyzers — typically installed following a conviction for drunken driving — to prevent the vehicle from being started if the driver is detected to have consumed alcohol.
At the time of the crash, Figueroa was allegedly driving a vehicle that belonged to someone other than herself; when driving, Figueroa was legally required use a vehicle with an interlock device, according to charging documents, which cite a police check of Department of Motor Vehicle records.
Her license had been suspended, in 2021, for allegedly refusing to take a chemical test for intoxication, the documents say.
Figueroa's attorney, Michael Brown of Central Islip, said in an interview Saturday that his client’s interlock requirement had lapsed. He said her license remains suspended from a DWI only because she had failed to pay an assessment fee associated with the case.
He said that Figueroa, a bartender, had gotten to the area hours before the triathlon — with co-workers to sit and watch the sunrise at the beach.
“If she knew that was a restricted area, obviously she wouldn’t have driven through it,” he said.
The Smith Point Triathlon was a 500-meter swim, a 9.7-mile bike ride and a 5-kilometer run.
“The swim in calm Narrow Bay and flat, fast bike course are a great lead up to the run over the bridge for the inspiring end at the Atlantic Ocean beach-front finish line,” the race registration website says.
On Long Island in 2022, there were 74,683 crashes — 38,935 in Nassau County and 35,748 in Suffolk, according to preliminary statistics maintained by the University at Albany-based Institute for Traffic Safety Management & Research. In those crashes, 80 were killed and 14,514 injured in Nassau and 154 were killed and 13,533 injured in Suffolk.
There were at least 70 pedestrians killed on the Island last year — 50 in Suffolk and 20 in Nassau. And seven cyclists were killed in Suffolk and two in Nassau.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
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