El Salvadoran Man Found Guilty Of Suffolk Hit-And-Run: DA

SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY — An El Salvadoran man who fled the United States after being behind the wheel of a hit-and-run that inflicted a serious injury to a pedestrian has been found guilty, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney announced Tuesday.

Juan Morales Guerra, 32, was convicted of leaving the scene of an incident without reporting resulting in serious personal injury after he crashed his vehicle in Brentwood in 2022, Tierney said. Morales Guerra hit a pedestrian and then drove off without calling for help, exchanging information or reporting the incident to law enforcement, the DA said.

"This defendant tried to avoid responsibility and evade prosecution, not once, but twice in this case when he left the accident scene, willfully fled the country, and never returned to court when it was time to answer for his crime," Tierney said in a news release.

On May 23, 2022, at approximately 9:50 p.m., Morales Guerra was driving an Acura MDX south on Washington Street in Brentwood when he struck a pedestrian who was walking across the street, investigators said. Morales Guerra then drove off, officials said.

The pedestrian was transported to South Shore University Hospital where he was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury that required an emergency craniectomy, which has left him with debilitating injuries which he still has now, prosecutors said.

Law enforcement retrieved video surveillance from a nearby home which captured the collision, authorities said. Officials said they found car parts along the roadway where the collision occurred.

On June 8, 2022, law enforcement found Morales Guerra’s Acura MDX parked in front of his home on Whipple Street in Brentwood, approximately a quarter of a mile away from where the crash happened, investigators said. The car parts, including a headlight found at the crash site, matched the damage that law enforcement observed on the Acura, authorities said.

When interviewed by police, Morales Guerra admitted to driving the vehicle, hitting someone or something with his car, and then driving away, the DA said. He was then placed under arrest, officials said.

He was arraigned on Sept. 13, 2022, and released because the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office could not ask for bail, the office stated.

Following pre-trial hearings that were held in March 2023, law enforcement said that Morales Guerra had gotten on a plane and fled to El Salvador. On May 10, 2023, Acting Supreme Court Justice Steven Pilewski issued a bench warrant for Morales Guerra after he failed to appear in court, the DA said.

Tierney said Morales Guerra's case is "yet another example of why New York State legislators must fix our broken bail system."

"It is unconscionable that we cannot ask for bail even where the offender has already fled from an accident scene that left a victim with a traumatic brain injury. It is wrong and it is dangerous," Tierney said.

On Tuesday, Morales Guerra was found guilty in connection with the crash. He is being represented by Chase Brown.

Brown did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment, sent to the Michael J. Brown, P.C. law firm.

No sentencing information was available given Morales Guerra's flight to El Salvador.