Greater Long Island coverage is funded in part by Toresco & Simonelli, a boutique injury and family law firm in West Islip. They fight for their clients. Click here to learn more and to get in touch.
More than eight months after a fatal hit-and-run crash in Hampton Bays, a Southampton man has been indicted for leaving the scene and tampering with evidence, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said Friday.
Benjamin Sheen-Waltzer, 32, is accused of striking 67-year-old Angel Asitimbay with his 2024 GMC pickup truck on March 6 and fleeing the scene without stopping. The crash, which occurred just after 5 p.m. on Springville Road near Neptune Avenue in Hampton Bays, left Asitimbay gravely injured, according to authorities. He died shortly after being taken to Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead.
Despite months of investigation, it wasn’t until Friday that Sheen-Waltzer was arraigned on charges of leaving the scene of an incident without reporting, a Class D felony, and tampering with physical evidence, a Class E felony. If convicted on the top charge, Sheen-Waltzer faces a prison sentence of up to 2 1/3 to seven years.
The district attorney said Asitimbay had been walking along a residential roadway, pushing a shopping cart brimming with can and glass bottles, when he was struck from behind. Evidence collected at the scene included the letter M in the truck’s front emblem. Video surveillance allegedly captured a truck matching the description of Sheen-Waltzer’s vehicle, showing front-end damage and a missing emblem, Tierney said.
Police ultimately located the truck at Sheen-Waltzer’s Southampton residence, Tierney said. Additional parts of the emblem were found at his workplace inside another vehicle registered to him and GPS data from the truck allegedly confirmed his movements before and after the crash, the district attorney said.
Tierney underscored the seriousness of the case.
“Our streets and roadways are shared spaces where pedestrians have every right to feel safe,” he said. “The defendant’s alleged actions show a complete disregard for human life and the basic principle that our roadways belong to everyone, drivers and pedestrians alike.”
Bail for Sheen-Waltzer was set at $25,000 cash, $50,000 bond, or a $250,000 partially secured bond. Additionally, the defendant’s driving privileges were also suspended during the case.
Top photo: Google Maps/Springville Road near Neptune Avenue in Hampton Bays.
