Man charged in hit and run that killed 30-year-old husband and father on Long Island

ISLAND PARK, Long Island (WABC) -- Police have arrested a man they say was the driver who killed a 30-year-old man on Long Island Monday night and fled the scene.

The hit and run happened just after 9 p.m. on Long Beach Road, near Marina Place, in Island Park.
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Police say the victim, Dodanim Emanuel Chavez, was struck by a vehicle traveling southbound on Long Beach Road and suffered severe trauma.

Chavez was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, and his grieving widow spoke to Eyewitness News.

"When I got here, I found him dead on the ground," wife Laura Chavez said. "Now getting to the house and he's not around. I can't call him anymore. I can't text him anymore. I don't know what to do."

Police said Wednesday that 31-year-old Corey Henson, of Centereach, was arrested and charged with leaving the scene of an incident with a fatality.

Chavez was in the middle of moving from his home on Long Beach Road to a new one down the street.



"We just built the other house," Laura Chavez said. "He's not here to enjoy the house with the family."

His wife said he had just finished packing the car and was walked around to get in when witnesses say an erratic white Dodge minivan struck him.
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Their 16-year-old stepson, Erick Cisneros, was flagged down by Chavez's mother-in-law.

"My grandma, she was limping over to me half crying," he said. "And she said, 'He's dead,' and I was like, 'What?' So I ran over here and I saw the body on the ground. I saw the blood running across the floor. I saw his body, and I was in shock, and I ran to get my mom."

Born in El Salvador and later moving to the United States, Chavez is survived by his wife, a 3-year-old daughter named Emma, and two stepchildren.
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"He's never going to see her grow, and she's not going to see her father, she was so close to him," Laura Chavez said. "He was a person, anybody needed him, he was there for them."

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