DA: Long Beach man pleads guilty to fatal shooting, hit-and-run

A Long Beach man pleaded guilty Wednesday to the fatal shooting of an Uber driver last year and a 2021 hit-and-run crash that seriously injured a pedestrian, Nassau County prosecutors said.

Shaun Teemer, 24, entered guilty pleas in a Mineola courtroom to a second-degree murder charge in the March 2022 killing of Humberto Manuel  Francis-Hernandez, along with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He also pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an incident without reporting and tampering with physical evidence in connection with a 2021 hit-and-run that left a 73-year-old woman with serious injuries, prosectors said in a news release.

Acting Supreme Court Judge Robert Bogle is expected to sentence Teemer to 20 years to life in prison on Aug. 2 on both sets of charges, according to prosecutors.

“Shaun Teemer is an extraordinarily violent defendant who has consistently broken the law,” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly in the release.

Michael DerGarabedian, Teemer's Rockville Centre-based defense attorney, said his client "feels better now that he's gotten this behind him and he's accepting responsibility."

During the early morning hours of March 19, 2022, Long Beach police responded to a report of shots fired on East Broadway and found Francis-Hernandez, 37, with gunshot wounds to the head and arm, as well as multiple shell casings in his sedan, prosecutors said. The trunk and driver's side door were open and the car sat idling in the roadway, authorities said. 

Francis-Hernandez died four days later after his condition deteriorated following surgery.

Investigators determined that Francis-Hernandez was an Uber driver picking up a ride in Long Beach at the time of the shooting, authorities said. Investigators identified Teemer as the shooter through cellphone records and he was arrested on June 13, 2022, authorities said.

Nearly one year earlier, Teemer was driving a rented 2020 Jeep Compass on East Park Avenue in Long Beach when the vehicle's passenger side mirror struck the 73-year-old woman as she crossed southbound near a pedestrian crosswalk,  prosecutors said.

Teemer continued driving and later requested a replacement rental vehicle, contending that the damage happened when the mirror was struck by a basketball, officials said.

The victim, who suffered a large cut to her forehead and a compound fracture to her leg, was brought to Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital in Oceanside, where she required surgery.

Teemer was arrested by Long Beach Police on Sept. 7, 2021.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.