Posted on: August 22, 2025 07:45 AM

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District attorney secures sentence in absentia and pursues capture of salvadoran man that fled suffolk after leaving a crash scene that caused serious brain injury to a pedestrian

Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that Juan Morales Guerra, 32, was sentenced in absentia to 1 1/3 to 4 years in  prison for 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.

“This is yet another tragic example of how so-called ‘bail reform’ has eroded public safety and accountability,” said District Attorney Tierney. “Despite the serious nature of the charges and potential for substantial incarceration, the court was compelled by New York law to release this defendant back onto the streets without any form of security. Unsurprisingly, the defendant soon thereafter hopped a flight to El Salvador in order to evade justice. While my office was able to proceed through trial and sentencing in his absence, it is a sad state that our legislators have enabled him to flee. We remain actively engaged with our federal partners, and we will not rest until he is returned to Suffolk County to serve his sentence.”

The evidence at trial established that on May 23, 2022, at approximately 9:50 p.m., 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 to the present day.

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, but released without any financial security because his crime is considered non-bail eligible under New York law, meaning prosecutors cannot request, and courts cannot require, any form of bail. 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, he was found guilty after a jury trial held in absentia heard before Justice Pilewski of one count of Leaving the Scene of an Incident Without Reporting Resulting in Serious Physical Injury, a Class E felony.

From DA