State Police conclude the Eastchester hit-and-run car / pedestrian collision investigation

Eastchester, New York – On August 21, 2016, at approximately 9:28 p.m., the Eastchester Police Department responded to investigate a hit-and-run automobile / pedestrian collision which occurred on White Plains Post Road in the Town of Eastchester.

The victim, identified as Irene Macchia, age 73, was transported to Westchester Medical Center as the result of serious, but non-life threatening injuries sustained during the collision.  Preliminary investigation revealed a dark-colored pickup truck was traveling northbound, when it struck the pedestrian, who was attempting to cross the road in an easterly direction.  Immediately following the collision, the vehicle fled the scene at a high rate of speed.

Three days later on August 24, 2016, Eastchester Police Sergeant Richard Morris, age 61, was found deceased, as the result of suicide, within Valhalla’s Gate of Heaven Cemetery, located in the Town of Mount Pleasant.

On August 25, 2016, at the request of the Eastchester Police Department, the New York State Police, in conjunction with the Eastchester Police Department, assumed the investigation.  The ensuing State Police investigation determined Richard Morris, while off duty and after having consumed alcoholic beverages, was operating his personally owned Dodge Ram truck, when he struck the pedestrian and then left the scene of the collision.