Man charged in fatal Huntington Station hit-run

Days after a hit-and-run driver left a 25-year-old man dead on a Huntington Station street, Suffolk police using evidence recovered at the scene traced the suspect's vehicle to an auto repair shop in Hempstead.

Detectives had impounded the car, a Mercury Grand Marquis, on Aug. 9, and on Wednesday the owner, Richard Wright, 27, was arrested, police said.

Wright, of Huntington Station, was charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident without reporting it.

The Aug. 4 hit-and-run that killed Reinaldo Velasquez-Yanes, also of Huntington Station, occurred shortly after 3 a.m. on New York Avenue just north of East 12th Street, police said.

Det. Sgt. Jim Madden, of the Vehicular Crime Unit, said crime lab investigators recovered car parts at the scene.

"Those guys don't just sit behind a desk," Madden said. "They knew pretty much right away what kind of vehicle we were looking for . . . and we found it."

Madden said investigators combed through vehicle registration records for all those fitting the description of the car. He declined to say what led police to the repair shop in Hempstead, but said police located the car on Aug. 9 -- five days after the crash.

Madden said the recovered parts matched damage to the front end of the vehicle.

At his arraignment Wednesday in First District Court in Central Islip, Wright's bail was set at $200,000 bond or $100,000 cash.

His attorney could not be reached for comment.

With Ellen Yan