Daniel Gomez, 65, was arrested at his Brentwood home Tuesday after Suffolk County detectives tracked him down following a fatal hit-and-run hours earlier.
The Long Island motorist allegedly struck and killed Erik Ermanovics, 56, as the homeless man attempted to cross Sunrise Highway at North Indiana Avenue in Lindenhurst just before 4:30 a.m. Rather than remain at the scene to render aid or contact authorities, Gomez sped away in his 2012 Honda Accord and left Ermanovics lying in the street, police said.
Ermanovics was eventually transported to a local hospital, where medical personnel pronounced him dead. The amount of time that elapsed between the initial crash and the arrival of first responders remains unclear.
Gomez now faces a charge of leaving the scene of a motor vehicle crash involving a fatality, an offense that carries a potential prison sentence of up to seven years if he is convicted. He was held overnight following his arrest and was scheduled to be arraigned in Central Islip court on Wednesday.
The investigation that led to Gomez’s capture moved quickly, with detectives locating and apprehending him at his residence later that same day. Suffolk County police have not disclosed what methods they used to identify Gomez as the suspect or whether any witnesses or surveillance footage contributed to the breakthrough.
The intersection where Ermanovics was struck sits along a major commercial corridor in Lindenhurst, a Suffolk County community on the South Shore of Long Island. Sunrise Highway, also known as Route 27, carries heavy traffic through the area even during early morning hours.
Gomez’s arraignment in Central Islip will mark the first formal court proceeding in a case that has drawn attention to both the vulnerability of pedestrians on busy roadways and the consequences faced by drivers who flee crash scenes rather than remain to assist those they have injured.