DA: Jury convicts man in fatal hit and run in East Islip

A Suffolk County jury on Tuesday convicted an East Islip man of charges including leaving the scene of an accident and tampering with evidence in connection with a motor vehicle accident that left a pedestrian with serious head injuries last year, officials said.

Charles Santjer of Fern Avenue is scheduled to be sentenced by Suffolk County Judge Timothy Mazzei on Sept. 28, said Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota, in a news release about the case. Santjer is free on $25,000 bail until sentencing.

His attorney, Laurence Silverman of Huntington, could not be reached for comment.

Prosecutors said Santjer, 58, struck a Brentwood man, Jimmy Rice, 50, as he crossed Carleton Avenue in East Islip around 3:30 a.m. on April 4 of last year. Rice suffered severe head trauma with brain injuries, officials said. Santjer was arrested in June 2015.

Prosecutors said police detectives matched a headlight lens cover found at the crash scene to Santjer’s 1999 Ford F-150 pickup truck, adding that Santjer, when questioned, said he had thrown away his damaged headlight.