A 22-year-old woman was killed in a hit and run by a suspected drunk driver who she refused to ride with earlier in the night, officials said
A woman in upstate New York was killed in a hit and run by a drunk driver she reportedly refused to ride with earlier in the night, the Onondaga District Attorney’s Office said, CNN, CNY Central and Local SYR report.
22-year-old Madison Faltisco had been bar hopping with a coworker on Thursday night in the New York town of Clay before heading home around 10:30 p.m. The coworker offered to drive her home in his car, but she refused, opting instead to walk home, Onondaga County Sheriff’s spokesperson Thomas Newton told CNN.
She allegedly was walking down a local street and passed an intersection when she was hit by a car driven by her coworker, 23-year-old Joshua Schiano, per a criminal complaint filed with the district attorney’s office obtained by CNN.
Authorities were able to identify Schiano as the coworker Faltisco had refused a ride from earlier that night, CNY Central reports, and family confirmed the two knew each other.
Schiano was charged with second-degree manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. He was reportedly arraigned on Friday where he pleaded not guilty, per CNN. The criminal complaint filed against Schiano claimed he was intoxicated while driving, though his specific blood alcohol level was not described, per the outlet.
The criminal complaint also alleged that two minutes after Schiano hit Faltisco, he crashed into a store sign outside the Salvation Army thrift store less than a mile further down the street from where he hit Faltisco. Newton told CNN that Schiano’s car caught fire and he was pulled out of the vehicle before police arrived on the scene.
While Schiano did not tell police that he had hit anyone before crashing into the sign, Newton told CNN authorities “were able to find out” through their investigation “that he knew that he had hit something or someone before getting into the accident.”
As for Faltisco, he noted that her body was found the next day around 5 a.m. by a passerby and she was pronounced dead on the scene.
“It’s a heavily trafficked four lane road during the day,” Newton told CNN. “Numerous cars probably passed by her body before someone called it in.”
“[Faltisco’s] bright light was extinguished in seconds,” a GoFundMe page created to help her family pay for funeral costs said. “Her family is living a nightmare, preparing to bury their beautiful daughter and sister.”
It is unclear if Schiano has an attorney who can speak on his behalf. Newton said he is currently being held at the Onondaga County Justice Center with bail set at $250,000.