Freeport hit-and-run kills N.J. pedestrian

A New Jersey man was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver in Freeport, police said Wednesday.

Jose Ulloa Bonilla, 29, was struck about 1 a.m. Monday morning by a dark colored SUV, police said. Bonilla was crossing Sunrise Highway just east of South Bergen Place, police said. Information concerning the incident was not initially released by police because the victim's identity was not immediately established.

Bonilla was on Long Island visiting a brother who lives in Floral Park, police said, but at the time of the incident, he had just left a Freeport nightspot.

Homicide Det. Gary Ferrucci said Bonilla was hit by an eastbound SUV - similar to a GMC Envoy. Ferrucci said the hit-and-run occurred on a well-lit street, but the vehicle, traveling at a significant rate of speed, never slowed down after striking Bonilla. "Witnesses tell us he was flipped up over the SUV," Ferrucci said. "He [the SUV driver] just continued right on through. He never stopped."

Bonilla was taken by ambulance to South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside where he was pronounced dead about an hour later, police said.