Orchard Park, N.Y. (WBEN) - Two pedestrians were struck by vehicles in separate incidents near Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park on Monday night, resulting in one fatality and one serious injury.
Orchard Park Police and the Erie County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call at approximately 8:19 p.m. EST on Southwestern Boulevard near Stadium Drive of a pedestrian struck by a vehicle. Officers found a 65-year-old male from Rochester laying in the street.
EMS personnel administered life-saving care to the victim before transporting him to Erie County Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead as a result of his injuries.
Police say the vehicle, a Toyota Camry, fled the scene, but bystanders were able to record the license plate and a vehicle description. The suspected vehicle was later found in the City of Buffalo.
32-year-old Khairullah Hasein of Buffalo was arraigned on Tuesday morning and charged with a felony count of Leaving the Scene of Incident Resulting in Death. He was allegedly working as a delivery driver when he hit the victim, and also had his nine-year-old child in the vehicle with him at the time of the incident.
"What makes this more troublesome is that, again, these are allegations, the offender's innocent until proven guilty, but based upon the facts that we have, all Mr. Hasein had do, or all anyone has to do when they are involved in a situation like this is just stop the car," said Erie County District Attorney John Flynn on Tuesday. "There is no indication there was any alcohol involved, there's no indication any drugs were involved. There's no indication any speeding was involved, no reckless driving, no driving with a cell phone. There's no traffic violations at all that are attached to this charge. The actual crime is not striking the pedestrian, the crime is leaving the scene."
Flynn adds there's no indication that any kind of Endangering the Welfare of a Child charge is imminent, but he will look into it a little bit further.
The defendant is scheduled to return to Orchard Park Town Court on Friday at 4:30 p.m. EST for a felony hearing. He was held without bail.
If convicted of the charge, Hasein faces a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.
Police later responded to a second report of a pedestrian struck at the intersection of Abbott and Milestrip Roads just after 10 p.m. EST when an Orchard Park Police Officer spotted a 36-year-old male from Buffalo laying in the street.
The victim was transported to ECMC with serious injuries.
The operator of the vehicle in the second incident remained at the scene and cooperated with police. An investigation found the pedestrian walked into traffic against the crosswalk sign, ignoring the vehicle's right of way.
Both scenes were cleared by the end of the Bills game.