Cops: Peter Alker struck, killed by car in East Patchogue

A Mastic Beach man who had just left a hospital after a bicycle accident was struck and killed by a car Friday night as he walked across a road in East Patchogue, the man’s family and police said.

Peter Alker, 56, a construction worker, had fallen off his bicycle earlier in the day and went to the hospital to get treated for some minor injuries, his daughter, Amanda Alker, 22, of Jensen Beach, Florida, said Saturday.

“He had been riding his bicycle earlier in the day and he had fallen and someone brought him to the hospital,” Amanda said in a phone interview from Florida, while choking back tears. “And then he just left and started walking home and he got hit on the way home.”

Alker was struck about 8 p.m. on Sills Road at North Dunton Avenue by a Hyundai Sonata driven by Vanessa Clarke, 36, of East Patchogue, Suffolk County police said. Clarke was driving north when her car struck him in the left lane, police said. Alker was pronounced dead at the scene.

Clarke and her two passengers, an adult male and a 1-year-old girl, were not hurt and stayed at the scene, police said. Clarke, reached by phone Saturday, declined to comment.

Amanda Alker recalled the times her father would take her fishing when she was a child, helping to develop her love of the ocean. She said her dad also enjoyed gardening and fixing up his house, and that he called her often to tell her about things going on in New York, about the ocean and the environment.

“He was so proud of the way his flowers would bloom in the spring,” she said of her dad’s garden. “He had an incredible skill with building.”

Peter Alker also had two sons, Danny and Jesse, his daughter said.

Police impounded the Hyundai for a safety check. Anyone with information about the incident should call Fifth Squad detectives at 631-854-8552 or call anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 800-220-TIPS.