Driver charged with DWI in fatal hit-and-run in North Bay Shore, Suffolk police say

An alleged drunken driver struck and killed a man crossing a street just after midnight Saturday in North Bay Shore, then fled the scene, but was arrested soon afterwards, according to the Suffolk County Police Department.

The pedestrian, Dany Ibarra, 38, of Bay Shore, was crossing at about 12:20 a.m. in front of 1724 Fifth Ave., when Darwin Contreras, 30, of Central Islip, was heading northbound on the road and struck him with a 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee, the police department wrote in a news release.

Contreras was charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death and driving while intoxicated, according to the release, which said he is to be arraigned Sunday at First District Court in Central Islip.

The release did not say how the police tracked down Contreras, why he is alleged to have been the driver or the evidence that he was intoxicated. Nor did the release say how fast Contreras was going.

In an email Saturday afternoon, the police department press office declined to answer these questions.

Ibarra was the second pedestrian to be killed in a crash in Suffolk County in a span of about four hours.

At 7:58 p.m. Friday, a pickup truck driver struck and killed a 33-year-old man at the intersection of Howells Road and Manatuck Boulevard in Bay Shore, the police department wrote in an earlier release.

More people died in Suffolk County last year from automobile crashes than anywhere else in New York State, a Newsday report published last month found, with 113 people killed.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.