http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news ... 287822.htm

Police: Driver in fatality hid 16 hours

Carlos Huanga-Reyes, accused of killing a teen in Bensalem, is an illegal immigrant from Ecuador.

By Mari A. Schaefer

Inquirer Staff Writer


After the hit-and-run accident that killed 14-year-old Rasheen Newkirk on Sunday in Bensalem, police said, the driver abandoned his car and fled into nearby woods.

And he hid there, in fear, for 16 hours.

Police say that Carlos Huanga-Reyes, 37, an illegal immigrant from Ecuador, "totally panicked."

He spent the night "walking around, sleeping, laying low and afraid to come out," said Officer Tim Clark, who arrested Huanga-Reyes on Monday at a cousin's home in the Creekside apartment complex on Knights Road in Bensalem.

Police said that Huanga-Reyes was on his way home from visiting friends when his car struck Newkirk on Street Road. He pulled over to the side of the road near Kingston Way, but then left the scene, abandoning the black 1999 Mazda he had recently purchased, police said. Before leaving the badly damaged car, he bent the license plate.

"He realized he didn't have a license. He was not supposed to be in this country," said Bensalem Police Detective Andrew Aninsman.

Authorities said he told them he works on construction projects for Toll Brothers Inc. and sends money back to family members in Ecuador.

Huanga-Reyes had applied Saturday for temporary registration and insurance for his car at Neshaminy Insurance Associates on Old Lincoln Highway. He held an expired international driver's license from Ecuador. "We are checking the validity of it," Aninsman said.

Police said they tracked Huanga-Reyes through the temporary registration.

Newkirk, a Bensalem High School freshman with a physical disability that caused him to limp, was crossing Street Road to get to a 7-Eleven on Sunday. Shortly after 5:30 p.m., he was struck by the car driven by Huanga-Reyes, and then again by the driver of a second car who did not see him lying in the road, police said. The driver of the second vehicle, whom police declined to identify, did stop.

Huanga-Reyes, who gave police a Philadelphia address, was being held yesterday at the Bucks County prison after he was unable to post $500,000 bail. He was charged with leaving the scene of an accident, not rendering aid, tampering with evidence, and not having a valid license. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for next Wednesday.

"He did not give us an ounce of trouble," Aninsman said. "He was very remorseful and emotional.

"This is a tragic accident with a lack of common sense and poor judgment after the accident."

A viewing for Newkirk will be held Monday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Community Baptist Church, 1439 Ashby Ave. in Bristol Township, followed by a funeral service.

Of course I added Toll Brothers INC ("The nations leading builder of luxury homes").