21-Year-Old Center Moriches Man Arrested After Leaving Scene Of Montauk Highway Crash

A 21-year-old man from Center Moriches was arrested after Suffolk County police say he fled the scene of a two-vehicle collision on Montauk Highway (Route 27) in Shirley, law-enforcement notices summarized in local reporting show. The crash and the subsequent arrest occurred on the evening of Feb. 17, 2026, according to a Suffolk County Police report covered by Patch.

Patch’s account locates the collision on Montauk Highway but the supplied excerpt truncates the more specific site description at “near Gr,” leaving the exact cross-street or landmark incomplete in the available copy. A Facebook repost of the police notice repeated that the suspected driver left the scene on “Tuesday night,” language consistent with the Feb. 17 evening timestamp in the police summary.

MSN added a charge detail not present in the Patch excerpt, reporting that the Center Moriches man was arrested “for DWAI after bolting,” in reporting by Peggy Spellman Hoey. The MSN element in the source bundle carried the byline for Hoey and a timestamp marker included in the supplied material. Patch and the Facebook republication did not provide charge language in the excerpts supplied for this story.

Key facts remain unreported in the materials provided: no name for the 21-year-old appears in the supplied excerpts, and there is no public detail about whether anyone was injured, whether either vehicle was impounded, or whether breath, blood, or field sobriety tests were administered. The Patch excerpt did not include the complete location (it cuts off after “near Gr”), and neither Patch nor the Facebook repost supplied vehicle descriptions, the identity of the other driver, or where and when the arrest took place beyond the general evening timeframe.

The source bundle also included an unrelated Associated Press item that references Center Moriches but is a distinct criminal matter and not connected to the Shirley crash. That AP text identified Richard Bilodeau, 63, of Center Moriches, as arraigned on two counts of murder in the death of Theresa Fusco and said DNA obtained from a discarded straw led to the indictment. The AP excerpt preserved two direct quotes: Bilodeau reportedly told investigators, “Yeah, people got away with murder, back then.” Assistant District Attorney Jared Rosenblatt is quoted as saying in court, “Well, Mr. Bilodeau, it’s 2025, and your day of reckoning is now.” That AP story is separate from the crash reporting and does not pertain to the arrested 21-year-old.

Before this report can name the suspect or confirm charges, officials records should be checked: the full Suffolk County Police incident report, booking records for Feb. 17–18, 2026, and any police press release that completes the truncated location and lists formal charge language. Until those documents are obtained and reviewed, the arrest and the allegation that the suspect was booked on a DWAI remain tied to the combination of the Suffolk County Police summary covered by Patch and the charge detail reported by MSN.