'Devastated': Family Mourns LI Woman Struck, Killed By Police Vehicle

WANTAGH, NY — The family of a 22-year-old, who was struck and killed by a police vehicle in Wantagh last week, is working through their emotions in real time.

Marc Salomone, a transgender female who identified as Morgan, was struck and died on Friday morning, police said.

Her grief-stricken parents said they are also dealing with what they believe is a lack of communication from Nassau police.

"I haven't heard back from anyone," mother MaryAnne Marman told Patch. "We just want the truth."

Marman will lay her daughter to rest next week.

"This was a wonderful human being," she said. "[She] never did a bad thing to anyone her whole life."

Salomone was labeled as a child with a disability, which her mother said wasn't the case.

"I knew she would develop. She would improve," Marman said.

Morgan, the youngest of five, was a pleasure to be around at home and school as she was filled with innocence and a sense of wonder, she said.

In the third grade, Salomone joined the Boy Scouts, and her mother said it was a great fit for her daughter.

"She was the epitome of the scout: helpful, loyal [and] kind," Marman reflected. "I got the pleasure of being involved with her through all of that [as] a Boy Scout leader."

Morgan was taking part-time credits at Nassau Community College, with hopes of a career as a pharmacy assistant.

Two years ago, Salomone began the transitioning process toward becoming a woman.

"'Whatever is going to make you happy,'" Marman told Salomone after she learned about her daughter's decision.

More recently, she started discussing having facial surgery "to make her look more feminine," her mother said. "She was getting there. She thought she had more time."

Salomone also had attending art school on her wish list, as friends told Marman when they gathered after her daughter's death.

Earlier this month, Salomone told her mother she was leaving the nest for school with friends in Buffalo.

"I only walked into her room two days ago and there's a suitcase on the floor," Marman said. "She was already packing."

Her oldest, 36, is autistic, and he is trying to figure out where Morgan is.

"We think he has some inkling or some understanding," she said. "We tried to tell him that Morgan is gone and that Morgan is in heaven. I think until he walks through those doors of the funeral home and sees her, he's not going to really completely get it."

Her other children are "devastated."

Marman is so devastated that she hasn't visited the crash scene.

Awaiting answers from the police and the state, where Attorney General Letitia James' office has opened an investigation into the two officers who were in the vehicle, Marman has hired an attorney.

"We just want the information," she said. "I can't go on not knowing exactly what happened."

However, if investigations determine the police crash was accidental, Marman is uncertain if that would give closure for her.

"I don't know," Marman said after a deep breath. "It's too early for me to say. There's nothing in this world that's going to replace her."

Navigating the tragedy, Marman is focusing on her faith to understand why her daughter was taken.

"She was too darn good for this earth," she said.