Retired MTA Worker Killed By Hit-Run Driver Along Notorious Long Island Stretch

LINDENHURST, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A retired MTA bus maintenance worker was struck and killed as he walked early Monday morning by a vehicle that never stopped.

As CBS2's Carolyn Gusoff reported, the stretch of roadway in Lindenhurst, Long Island, where John Aluska, 61, died is notorious for speeding.

Karen Quinn spotted his body around 1:15 on business-lined Montauk Highway.

"I saw what to be a dead boy in the street," she said, tears in her eyes.

"I turned my car around, and I put my flashers on so nobody else could run it over."

Residents have complained the stretch of roadway, which has a speed limit of 40 mph, is like a speedway.

"They come around this corner -- sometimes they're doing 60 miles an hour -- and there should be a stoplight here," said Lindenhurst resident Robert Harvey.

"It's about the fifth or the sixth time, and you hate to concede this is just like a drag strip," said James Stoker, also of Lindenhurst.

Aluska lived just blocks away. Police say he was struck by a driver traveling eastbound.

"At this point, we don't have a description yet to give of the suspect vehicle," said Suffolk County police Detective Sgt. Jim Madden. "We're canvassing the neighborhood for witnesses" and surveillance video.

Friends say Aluska retired from the MTA and looked forward to moving to Florida.

While distraught relatives are trying to find out why he had stepped into the road, neighbors count yet another victim of a deadly corner.

Eighteen-year-old Brittney Walsh, driving home from a new job, was killed in 2012 by a drunken driver. A memorial stands at the very corner of the latest hit-and-run.

"Brittney died there, and we have accidents there all the time," said neighbor George Caserta.

Despite petitions and a new pedestrian crosswalk, residents blame a deadly combination of a blind corner and reckless speed.

"We keep asking people to do something for us, and they won't do it," one man said.

Suffolk police are asking anyone with information to come forward. The hit-and-run vehicle would likely have front-end damage.

The state Department of Transportation said it is conducting a crash analysis and speed study of the area to decide if additional traffic lights are needed. The study is expected to be completed by the end of the year.