Lynbrook man dies after hit-run in Port Washington, cops say

A Lynbrook father of two was fatally struck late Friday in Port Washington by a hit-and-run driver, who was captured less than an hour later, Nassau police said Saturday.

Donald C. Mooney Jr., 49, was hit at 11:57 p.m. as he crossed Main Street east of South Bayles Avenue. Mooney was pronounced dead shortly before 4:30 a.m. Saturday at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, authorities said.

His mother, Patricia Mooney, 81, said her son was struck as he crossed Main during a break from his part-time job as a dispatcher for a limousine service, Delux Transportation Services.

"He just went to get a cup of coffee a few steps away," she said Saturday evening. "I'm still kind of in shock."

Police said the driver, Cosmin V. Florea, 34, of 2703 Milburn Ave., Baldwin, left the scene of the crash in his 2010 Ford Fusion, which had windshield and front-end damage.

Forty-five minutes later, NYPD officers noticed the damaged car at Braddock Avenue and Winchester Boulevard in Queens. Port Washington police went to the Queens location and arrested Florea.

He was charged with second-degree vehicular manslaughter, leaving the scene of fatality and driving while intoxicated.

He is scheduled to be arraigned Sunday in First District Court in Hempstead.

Mooney, a New York Institute of Technology graduate, worked in coffee sales in Manhattan, his mother said. He picked up the second job dispatching for the limo company, where he had worked in college. His daughter, Olivia, 18, started at Stony Brook University last year and he needed extra money, his mother said.

She said she learned of her son's death from a dispatcher, who heard sirens and a "big bang" shortly after Mooney crossed Main Street heading to a Dunkin' Donuts store.

"He hadn't come back from getting his coffee. She [the dispatcher] just had a bad feeling in her chest," Patricia Mooney said.

Donald Mooney, who was divorced, adored his daughter and his son, Nicholas Stack, 24, Patricia Mooney said.

Mooney and his daughter often watched "Jeopardy!" Now that she's at Stony Brook, where she will be a sophomore, they'd spent less time together.

Last Sunday, Mooney's daughter packed lunch and said, "Dad, we're going to the beach." Mooney was busy around the house, but they went to Jones Beach, his mother said. As they ate dinner on the beach, he turned to his daughter and said: "Liv, I'm so glad I came because it turned out to be a really nice time."