UPDATE: Police Identify Victim of Fatal Hit-And-Run on September 8 in Hampton Bays

Update, Thursday, 2:40 p.m.

Police released the identity of the victim of the fatal hit-and-run on Thursday as Porfirio Blanco Rivera, 59, of Hampton Bays.

Original Story:

A Florida man has been charged with DWI and leaving the scene of an accident after striking and killing a pedestrian with his car on Springville Road in Hampton Bays on Friday night, September 8.

Southampton Town Police have still not identified the man killed — who is believed to have been homeless and may have been living in the woods near where the incident took place.

The accident was reported to police at about 7:25 p.m. on Friday night. The victim, whom police have offered no description of, other than to say he was male, was struck on Springville Road, just north of Montauk Highway. Witnesses and police officers performed CPR on the man, who was then taken by Hampton Bays Fire Department Ambulance to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, where police say he died from his injuries.

A Florida man, Kenneth Riccioli, 55, of Delray Beach, was arrested a short time later on nearby Montauk Highway, Southampton Town Police said.

Riccioli was charged with felony leaving the scene of an accident involving a fatality. He refused to submit to a breathalyzer test and was therefore additionally charged with DWI, a misdemeanor.

Southampton Town Justice Gary Weber arraigned Riccioli on Saturday morning and ordered him held in lieu of $50,000 bail. Riccioli posted $5,000 cash bail and a $45,000 secured bond and was released. He was picked up outside the Hampton Bays court by a friend.

His attorney, Colin Astarita, said that his client did not “flee the scene,” as police described, but had driven only a short distance and then returned to the scene in his vehicle.

“Firstly, my client and his family are deeply upset and saddened by this young man’s passing,” Astarita said in a statement following the arraignment. “However, we do not believe the charge of driving while intoxicated is justified based on the facts.”

Astarita said the victim had run in front of Riccioli’s vehicle and that his client was not driving recklessly and that alcohol had played no role in the accident. “While this was a tragic accident, it is unfortunately just that: an accident,” Astarita said. “We are confident that when all testing is complete, these charges will be withdrawn.”

The police report of the incident said Riccioli “had a strong odor of an intoxicating beverage from his breath and person.”

Police are asking anyone with information on the incident to call detectives at 631-702-2230.