The real estate developer who left a pal to die when he crashed his sports car in the Hamptons spent hours after his arraignment earlier this month frantically Googling how to escape to South America , a prosecutor revealed Tuesday.
Wealthy BlackHouse Development owner Sean Ludwick — who authorities say left a dying Paul Hansen on the side of the road after driving drunk and crashing his Porsche — typed in more than 1,000 highly suspicious Web searches, including “five countries with no extradition treaties’’ and “percentage of bail jumpers caught,’’ officials said.
“I don’t think there’s any amount of bail package that would ensure his return to court,’’ Suffolk County Judge Fernando Camacho said as he permanently revoked Ludwick’s $1 million bail.
Ludwick — who faces vehicular-manslaughter charges that carry more than 30 years in prison — was nabbed last week after flying to Puerto Rico, taking sailing lessons and trying to buy a large boat.
His sailing instructor told a coworker — who by chance was employed by the FBI — that he feared Ludwick was going to hijack a vessel, and the second employee contacted a friend in the Southampton Police Department, ADA John Prudenti said.
Authorities later discovered Ludwick’s Google searches, which also included, “seeking citizenship in Venezuela” and “would you survive as a fugitive.’’
They noted that he also transferred $380,000 to an account in Puerto Rico to purchase a 50-foot boat that could transport him to South America.
Ludwick’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, insisted that the Web searches didn’t mean his client was really planning to flee, dismissing them as mere “fantasizing.”
As for the sailing lessons and boat, “call it a wish list of things to do,” the lawyer said.
Ludwick is accused of smashing his 2013 Porsche into a utility pole after a night of drinking with Hansen, 53, in Sag Harbor in August.
In a desperate bid to flee the scene, Ludwick dragged his mortally wounded passenger out of the car and left him to die on the side of the road as he sped off, prosecutors said.
Sources told The Post that Ludwick even tossed the dying man’s wallet into the woods to obscure his identity.
Hansen’s wife, Catherine, teared up when Brafman argued that Ludwick hadn’t left his buddy to die but instead was trying to alert a nearby fire department of the accident because his phone was trapped in the glove-compartment box.
Prudenti blasted the excuse as “offensive and incredulous.”
He said that when officers approached Ludwick after the accident and asked if anybody else was with him or injured, Ludwick snapped, “Don’t worry about him.”
