An East Northport woman was arrested and charged Wednesday with leaving the scene of a motor vehicle crash that killed a pedestrian earlier this year.
Michelle Karp, 28, was charged with Leaving the Scene of an Incident Resulting in Death and Tampering with Physical Evidence. Suffolk police said she fled the scene of a crash that killed Lydia Ciminelli, 72, of Lake Ronkonkoma, on Rosevale Avenue in Ronkonkoma on Aug. 7. Ciminelli was crossing Rosevale Avenue, just south of Motor Parkway, at approximately 9:30
a.m. when she was struck by the vehicle,.
The office of Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said that two hours
after the crash occurred, Karp allegedly replaced the broken windshield on her vehicle. During their investigation, law enforcement recovered car parts in the roadway where the collision occurred, which were allegedly matched damage on Karp’s Nissan, Tierney’s office said.
“Striking a pedestrian and driving away, leaving them injured and lying in the road, is no accident,” Tierney said. “This defendant allegedly did just that and attempted to cover it up. This is a serious crime and we will treat it as such.”
Justice Steven A. Pilewski placed Karp on supervised release during the pendency of the case and suspended her driver’s license. Karp is due back in court on Dec.19.