A Long Island driver has been arrested for allegedly striking and killing a college student on a bicycle while he was high on drugs and fleeing the scene, police said.
Michael Tarduno Jr. was driving west on Route 347 when he crashed into University of Stony Brook student Seong Hook Baek, who was riding his bike on the shoulder, at about 9:45 p.m. Thursday, police said.
Tarduno then fled the scene of the accident in his Ford pickup truck, authorities said.
Emergency personnel rushed the 21-year-old Baek to Stony Brook University Medical Center. The Flushing resident was pronounced dead at 11:07 p.m.
Witnesses of the crash had caught the license plate number of Tarduno’s vehicle and gave it to police. They tracked the car to Tarduno’s home in Setauket and arrested him.
Tarduno, 30, was charged with leaving the scene of a deadly accident, driving while impaired by drugs and criminal possession of a controlled substance.
He was scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip Friday.
It wasn’t immediately clear if he had an attorney.
