Stony Brook student killed in hit-run

A Stony Brook University senior riding a bicycle back to his dorm was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver who was high on drugs and had illegal painkillers in his possession, Suffolk officials said Friday.

Seong Hoon Baek, 21, a Flushing resident who had a dual major, was riding the bicycle from his off-campus job when he was struck and fatally injured by a passing pickup truck about 9:45 p.m. Thursday on Route 347 just west of Pond Path, Suffolk County police said.

Baek was taken to Stony Brook University Medical Center, where police said he died at 11:07 p.m.

The driver of the pickup, Michael J. Tarduno Jr., 30, of Setauket, fled the scene, but was arrested about three hours later near his home by officers who had gotten the license plate number of the vehicle from witnesses who stopped to help Baek, police said.

Among the charges against Tarduno is the illegal possession of prescription painkillers, six Oxycodone pills and 11 Alprazolam pills, a spokesman for the district attorney's office said.

As he was being led, handcuffed, to his arraignment, Tarduno told a News 12 Long Island reporter that he was not under the influence of drugs, and said he was unaware he had hit anyone.

"Hitting a kid and killing him? I didn't hit anyone," Tarduno said in response to a question. Asked if he was high on drugs at the time, he replied: "No. I was not."

At Stony Brook on Friday, friends and faculty mourned Baek's death. College officials said a memorial service was being planned for Baek.

"It's a very sad day for the university," Jerrold Stein, dean of students, said.

He said Baek was majoring in economics and biochemistry and was active in the Korean Christian Fellowship on campus.

Friends of Baek gathered Friday afternoon at O'Neill College, the on-campus dorm where Baek lived. Several were solemnly clustered around a minister from Baek's church, Bible United Methodist Church in Deer Park.

Baek's friend Daniel Kim said he was an inveterate joker, one who loved to get his friends to laugh. "He was a very entertaining guy," Kim said. "He liked to make people laugh."

Kim got to know Baek through the campus religious group. He gestured to the group of students. "As you can see, everybody's really close to him," said Kim, 28, of Plainview. "It's a big shock."

Prescription painkiller abuse has surged in the last several years, with oxycodone contributing to more overdose deaths on Long Island last year than heroin.

The problem exploded into public view when David Laffer shot four people to death in June in a Medford pharmacy he was robbing to get prescription painkillers.

"It's something that's constantly coming up," Det. Lt. Gregory McVeigh said of the drug use. "Nobody here can forget what happened at the drugstore . . . There are homes and families being destroyed by this."

Stony Brook has a bike share program, Stein said, although he was not sure if Baek was using one of the school's bikes at the time of the accident.

"We'd like to make the roads on and off campus as safe as possible," Stein said.

With John Valenti