Center Moriches man killed in 7-Eleven parking lot crash
A Center Moriches man was killed at 231 Wading River Road when a Ford F-150 turned into a 7-Eleven lot before dawn, turning an errand into a fatal crash.
A Center Moriches man was killed before sunrise in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven on Wading River Road, where a routine turn into a convenience-store lot became a fatal pedestrian crash. Suffolk County police identified the victim as Silverio Saldana-Trejo, 60, and said he was walking in the lot at 231 Wading River Road when he was struck at about 4:40 a.m. by a 2022 Ford F-150 driven by Antonio Ferrara.
The Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s Office pronounced Saldana-Trejo dead at the scene. Police said Ferrara was not hurt. Investigators impounded the truck for a safety check, and Suffolk County Police Seventh Squad detectives were handling the case while police asked anyone with information to come forward.
The crash carries a sharp local reminder because it did not happen on a highway or a high-speed arterial, but in a place people expect to be slow, familiar and forgiving. Wading River Road runs through a mix of residential and commercial activity in Center Moriches, and the 7-Eleven lot is the kind of space where drivers often focus on pulling in, turning and finding a pump or parking space rather than scanning for someone on foot. In the dark hours before dawn, that combination can leave little margin for error.
National pedestrian safety guidance from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration includes parking lots as a setting where people on foot need protection, and the National Safety Council has warned that slow speeds do not eliminate the danger of a pedestrian crash. The concern is not just speed, but the way vehicles cut across walking paths, the visibility near store fronts and pumps, and the split-second decisions drivers make while entering or leaving a lot.
The fatality also adds to a wider Long Island traffic picture that has stayed grim for pedestrians. A regional safety summary cited 642 pedestrian-involved crashes in Suffolk County from October 2024 through September 2025, including 573 injuries and 33 deaths. In Center Moriches, that broad county trend now has a very specific address: 231 Wading River Road, where an ordinary stop at a 7-Eleven ended in tragedy.
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