Guilty Plea In Long Island Crash With Tractor-Trailer That Killed Woman: DA

RIVERSIDE, NY — A Suffolk driver has pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an incident without reporting in connection with a crash that left one passenger dead and another seriously injured back in June, Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney said.

Delores Mancialandverde, of Medford, drove a car while his privilege to drive in the state was suspended, and then left the scene of a crash that resulted in the death of his passenger, Hedilberto Nava-Perez, 44, of Medford, and the serious physical injuries to another passenger, prosecutors said.

“Mancialandaverde was not supposed to be driving due to having a suspended license,” Tierney said. “Thus, this tragedy could have been avoided. Instead, this defendant chose to endanger Suffolk County residents through his egregious conduct and, in the process, caused the death of Hedilberto Nava-Perez, an innocent passenger in the defendant’s car.”

Just before 2 a.m. on June 8, Mancialandaverde, 28, was driving his 2008 BMW 328i southbound on Horseblock Road in Medford with two passengers inside. As a tractor-trailer was making a left-hand turn from Horseblock Road onto Express Drive North, he drove through the intersection and crashed into the tractor-trailer, according to prosecutors.

Mancialandaverde got out of the vehicle and ran away when a bystander tried to render aid to his passenger, prosecutors said.

Nava-Perez, who was in the backseat, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to prosecutors.

Mancialandaverde’s front-seat passenger suffered femur, spinal, and facial fractures, and was
airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital, prosecutors said, adding that the driver of the tractor-trailer was uninjured.

At the time of the crash, Mancialandaverde’s privilege to drive in New York was suspended, prosecutors said.

Mancialandaverde is due back in court on Jan. 8, and faces two to six years in prison at sentencing, according to prosecutors.

Patch has reached out to his attorney, Luigi Belcastro of Central Islip, for comment.