Cops seek public's help in hit-run investigation

Homicide detectives investigating the hit-and-run crash that killed an elderly Roslyn Heights woman are piecing together vehicle fragments left at the scene to help identify the driver, a squad supervisor said Tuesday.

The vehicle that blew through a stop sign Monday afternoon at Warner Avenue and Carlyle Place and struck Vaghar Giae, 81, shed the fragments and likely sustained front-end damage, Det. Sgt. Richard Laursen said.

Giae, who police say was walking with a cane when she was struck, lived several blocks southwest of the accident. A young man who answered the door Tuesday at her home said their family was too distraught to speak with a reporter.

Investigators haven't been able to fully interview the family because they are so upset, Laursen said.

Tuesday on Giae's Willow Street block, which is just north of the Long Island Expressway, neighbors remembered her as a dedicated matriarch who cooked weekly Sabbath meals, doted on her family and recently hosted the Passover seder.

Police believe that the vehicle that struck Giae slowed down, then fled, and was light-colored and possibly a sport utility vehicle, Laursen said. The driver also hit a parked car on Warner, he said.

"From the trauma of the body I would say there was a significant impact," Laursen said at a news conference at the police department's Mineola headquarters. "She was carried or thrown at least 75 feet from the initial impact."

Meanwhile, police ask witnesses who may have seen the crash to come forward by calling their hotline, 800-244-TIPS.