Driver Charged in Fatal Hit-and-Run Involving Cyclist

A 67-year-old Long Beach woman was charged with leaving the scene of a fatal hit-and-run after a bicyclist was struck and killed Tuesday morning in Atlantic Beach, Nassau County police said.

Tony Thomas, 59, of Far Rockaway, was pronounced dead at the scene by the Long Beach Fire Department. The crash occurred at 7:46 a.m. Tuesday, March 24, on Beech Street near the intersection of Scott Drive.

Erin M. Henry was driving a 2019 Honda HRV eastbound on Beech Street when she struck Thomas, according to detectives from the Nassau County Police Department’s Homicide Squad. Henry then fled the scene, continuing eastbound on Beech Street, police said.

Following a joint investigation by the Nassau County Police Department and the Long Beach Police Department, investigators located Henry’s vehicle. Police have not disclosed where the vehicle was found. Henry was placed in custody without incident.

Henry faces a charge of leaving the scene of an incident causing death.

She was arraigned Wednesday, March 25, at Nassau County District Court in Hempstead, where she was represented by a private attorney. The court did not release information on Henry’s plea or the terms of her release. Following the arraignment, Henry posted bail of $25,000, according to the court clerk.

Henry is due back in Nassau County Court in Mineola for indictment control on Friday, March 27.

The investigation remains active, police said.

Atlantic Beach is a small barrier island community on Nassau County’s south shore, connected to Long Beach by a causeway. Beech Street runs through a residential stretch of the village, and morning bicycle traffic in the area is not uncommon as warmer spring weather returns to the region.

Hit-and-run crashes involving cyclists and pedestrians have drawn increasing attention from law enforcement and advocates across Nassau and Suffolk counties in recent years. Under New York State law, leaving the scene of an incident that results in a death is a felony charge. A conviction can carry a prison sentence of up to four years.

Nassau County police have not released further details on how investigators traced the vehicle back to Henry or what evidence was gathered at the scene. The Homicide Squad, which handles fatal traffic investigations in Nassau County alongside criminal homicide cases, is leading the probe.

Thomas’s next of kin have been notified, police said. No further information about the victim was released by authorities.

Anyone with information about the crash is asked to contact Nassau County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS. All calls remain anonymous.