Miller Place Family Seeks Justice In Hit-And-Run That Left Mother Dead

MILLER PLACE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A Long Island family wants answers days after a deadly hit-and-run.

On Saturday night, a truck hit Tracy Ann Mangino, 40, and kept going. As CBS 2's Jennifer McLogan reported, police are searching for the driver who left the mother to die along a busy road.

"Could you please turn yourself in so we could know why you just left her there on the side of the road?" said Kathleen Mangino, Tracy Ann's mother.

Tracy Ann was just steps from her Miller Place home when, according to police, a vehicle slammed into her around 11:15 p.m. as she walked home from visiting a friend.

"Just bring yourself in," said Serena Mangino, Tracy Ann's 14-year-old daughter. "And there's so much I want to know. So much that they can only tell me if they find the person who did that."

Mangino was hit while walking on the shoulder of North Country Road, just east of Block Island Drive.

The driver was inside an unidentified, white box truck, now with front-end damage, police said. Mangino was struck with such force she came out of her shoes.

"This is a family in pain," a family friend said. "They need closure. And if somebody did this, they need to come forward."

There are no sidewalks along the road. The speed limit of 30 mph reflects a concern to slow down.

Some call the stretch a speedway, recalling four pedestrian deaths in the Miller Place and Sound Beach neighborhoods in the past several years.

Neighbors say street lighting is poor.

"Half the lights are out on that road," Michael Parisi said. "I"ve taken personal notice because I live on that road."

Keith Williams, Sound Beach fire chief, said that based on Tracy Ann's injuries, the driver "definitely" knew he or she hit something.

Suffolk County police are pursuing leads and interviewing potential witnesses and hoping more witnesses will come forward.

"We just want to find out who did it and just get some answers so that we can move forward," Michael Mangino, Tracy Ann's brother, said.

A wake and prayer service for Tracy Ann are scheduled for Tuesday.

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