Brian Cinquemani pleads not guilty in fatal crash in Heckscher State Park

A state parks worker pleaded not guilty Tuesday to an indictment charging him with killing a bicyclist in Heckscher State Park last year.

Brian Cinquemani is charged with criminally negligent homicide, reckless driving and filing a false instrument. Assistant District Attorney Shaun McCready said Cinquemani was speeding and ignored a stop sign when he hit Edward Hahne Jr. of East Islip on July 11, 2014. Cinquemani was driving a van owned by the park, McCready said.

Cinquemani left the scene of the accident to report it to state park police immediately, McCready said.

But when he gave a written statement to police, he said he came to a complete stop at the sign and hit Hahne when he started moving again, said Assistant District John Scott Prudenti, chief of the Vehicular Crimes Bureau for the district attorney's office.

An eyewitness to the crash told police that was not what happened, and a crash reconstruction verified that, Prudenti said.

Defense attorney Michael Petruzziello of the Legal Aid Society told state Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho that Cinquemani reported voluntarily to court, and Camacho allowed Cinquemani to remain free with no bail.

If convicted, Cinquemani faces 2 1/3 to 7 years in prison.