Cops: Man charged in hit-run death of student

A 21-year-old Stony Brook University student from Flushing was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver not far from campus Thursday evening, Suffolk County police said.

But witnesses gave responding officers the license plate of the fleeing vehicle — and police said the driver, a Setauket man, was arrested about three hours after the fatal accident.

That driver was ability-impaired by drugs, police said.

Police identified the victim as Seong Hoon Baek, who they said was riding his bicycle west on the righthand shoulder of Route 347 just west of Pond Path when he was struck by a 2001 Ford F-350 pickup truck at about 9:45 p.m. Baek was transported to Stony Brook University Medical Center, where police said he died at 11:07 p.m.

Witnesses supplied police with the license plate of the pickup and a search located that truck on Thompson Hay Path in Setauket at 12:40 a.m. Friday, police said. The driver, identified as Michael J. Tarduno, Jr., was arrested.

Tarduno was charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident, driving while ability-impaired by drugs and with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

He is scheduled for arraignment Friday in First District Court in Central Islip.