Long Island man arraigned in hit-and-run that killed man in wheelchair

WEST BABYLON, Long Island (WABC) -- A Long Island motorist was arraigned Tuesday in a hit-and-run crash that killed a man in his wheelchair last year, and it isn't the first time his family has been in trouble with the law.

Police say 36-year-old Christopher Bacayon was driving the dark-colored Nissan that struck 40-year-old Michael Dora, of West Babylon, while he was in his wheelchair in October.

Dora was pronounced dead at a hospital. He was about a half-mile from his apartment, bringing dinner home to his mother, when he was mowed down.

"It's very tough," Dora's pastor, Rev. Bill Minson, said. "Mrs. Dora is a critically ill woman. Michael was everything to her."

Minson says Dora was an exceptional man and an extraordinary son.

"A young man that any mother or father would love to have as a son," he said. "If you can imagine a young man in a wheelchair from birth who was able to take care of his mother."

Bacayon is charged with felony leaving the scene of an accident and was ordered held on $100,000 bail.

Prosecutors say the charges are even more troubling because Bacayon's identical twin brother had just pleaded guilty to another hit and run 10 days before the incident. Benedict Bacayon had struck a pedestrian almost exactly two years before, also in West Babylon, fracturing that victim's pelvis and arm.

"The odds of something like this happening, two identical twin brothers living in the same household, committing virtually the same crime, the odds are astronomical," Suffolk County District Attorney Tom Spota said.

Detectives say debris from both brothers cars left at the scene lead to their arrests. Investigators say they found Dora's DNA on the front of Christopher Bacayon's Nissan.

"We have banking records," Spota said. "He used his credit card at a nightclub. We have people who were with him and other evidence as well. There's no question he was drinking."

Holly McLoughlin says the Doras moved next door to her a month before Michael was killed, but he made quickly friends.

"He's the type of guy you just felt like you knew your whole life, just like that and his mother as well," she said. "I think it's terrible. I think it's horrendous, two brothers doing the same thing."

Bacayon's attorney, Ira Rosenberg, said Benedict Bacayon's guilty plea should not affect his case.

"We want to offer our condolences to the Dora family, but at this point in time he maintains his innocence," he said.

Bacaya is due back in court April 19. His brother served 90 days in prison for his hit and run.