An El Salvadoran man was found guilty of leaving the scene of an accident that left a pedestrian with serious injuries. After the incident, he FLED the country and, as a result, was tried and convicted by a jury, although he was not present in the courtroom.
Juan Morales Guerra, 32, was found guilty after a jury trial of Leaving the Scene of an Incident Without Reporting Resulting in Serious Personal Injury, for crashing his vehicle in Brentwood, seriously injuring a pedestrian, and then fleeing the scene without calling for help, exchanging information, or reporting the incident to law enforcement.
On May 23, 2022, at approximately 9:50 p.m., Juan Morales Guerra was driving an Acura MDX southbound on Washington Street in Brentwood when he struck a pedestrian who was walking across the street, and then fled the scene.
The victim was transported to South Shore University Hospital where he was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury that required an emergency craniectomy which has left him with debilitating injuries.
Law enforcement retrieved video surveillance from a nearby residence which captured the collision, and found car parts along the roadway where the collision occurred.
On June 8, 2022, law enforcement found Morales Guerra’s Acura MDX parked in front of his home on Whipple Street in Brentwood, approximately a quarter of a mile away from the crash scene. The car parts, including a headlight found at the crash site, matched the damage that law enforcement observed on the Acura. When interviewed by police, Morales Guerra admitted to driving the vehicle, hitting someone or something with his car, and then driving away. He was then placed under arrest.
He was arraigned on September 13, 2022, and released because the offense was not bail-eligible.
Following pre-trial hearings that were held in March 2023, law enforcement determined that Morales Guerra had gotten on a plane and fled to El Salvador. On May 10, 2023, Acting Supreme Court Justice Steven Pilewski issued a bench warrant for Morales Guerra after he failed to appear in court.
On March 25, 2025, Morales Guerra, 32, was found guilty of Leaving the Scene of an Incident Without Reporting Resulting in Serious Physical Injury, a Class E felony, after a jury trial heard before Pilewski.
“This defendant tried to avoid responsibility and evade prosecution, not once, but twice in this case when he left the accident scene, willfully fled the country, and never returned to court when it was time to answer for his crime,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney. “This is yet another example of why our New York State legislators must fix our broken bail system. It is unconscionable that we cannot ask for bail even where the offender has already fled from an accident scene that left a victim with a traumatic brain injury. It is wrong and it is dangerous.”