Suspect Testifies in Fatal Hit-and-Run Trial

Written by Geoffrey Walter

Accused hit-and-run suspect Raymond Kalenka was portrayed as an unfeeling, uncaring driver according to prosecutors Monday afternoon at the Nassau County Courthouse in Mineola.

Kalenka, 46, of Williston Park, took the stand in his own defense at his grand jury trial that he allegedly ran over LaLima near the intersection of Syracuse Street and Broad Street in the early a.m. hours of Aug. 12, 2012. LaLima, of Albertson, was the manager of Garden City-based Grimaldi’s Pizza.

According to Kalenka’s direct testimony, he spent Aug. 11, 2012 in Denver, CO on business for his employer, Melville-based Arrow Electronics, where he is the assistant corporate comptroller. The next day he was at his Yale Street home, but spent the evening at his parents’ home on Park Avenue since he was going through divorce proceedings. After dinner he and his parents watched television until about 9 p.m. when his mother and father then went to bed.

“I was considering spending the night,” Kalenka said on the stand, noting that he had decided to go home to pick up a shirt and his shaving toiletries. While driving home, Kalenka said condensation appeared on his windshield because of the air conditioner and it was dark as he approached Syracuse Street. He testified he did not see any pedestrian at the location.

“(I) felt my car go over something, it felt like a speed bump,” he said, gesturing and indicating that he felt his wheels lift upwards. “I thought it might be a piece of debris in the road. I looked back in my rearview mirror, but again it was dark.”

Prosecutor Katie Zizza asked Kalenka if he would have stopped had he felt something larger than a speed bump, noting LaLima’s body weighed about 185 lbs. She further asked Kalenka how many times he had driven on the street, both north and south.

“Hundreds, maybe thousands,” Kalenka said, also admitting rolling through several area Stop signs that same night. “There are no speed bumps on Broad Street. It was unusual.”

After he arrived at his Yale Street home and retrieved his items, Kalenka stated that the car made a “scraping noise” after leaving the driveway. While inspecting his forward tires as the car was parked in the middle of the street, Kalenka’s neighbor, Christopher Post, pulled up after returning home from Dunkin’ Donuts in Mineola.

“It appeared he was tugging on or (reaching into) the wheel well,” Post said, noting that Kalenka appeared to have some sort of material in his hand. “I could see that he was struggling with something. He was shocked; he looked like he saw a ghost.”

Prosecutors say that Kalenka removed a section of the inner wheel well lining that was damaged in the incident, leading to an evidence tampering charge. But Kalenka stated in testimony that he could not see anything in the wheel well and the noise stopped after he then drove over Willis Avenue and onto Charles Street, noticing on Sunday that the piece of plastic was missing and that he could see that the car’s windshield wiper reservoir “was exposed.” He stated that he did not tamper with the vehicle or have it cleaned.

When reports came out on Sunday, Aug. 12, 2012 that a fatal hit-and-run occurred, Kalenka said that it did not register with him that the impact he felt was that of a human body, indicating that he had heard reports that it was a person on a bicycle or may have been a gang-related incident.

During cross examination, Zizza said that Kalenka “chose” to drive down Syracuse Street instead of Broad Street, where LaLima’s body would still have been lying in the street and potentially would have been seen.

“That’s the way I typically go to my parent’s house,” Kalenka said of taking the Syracuse Street route.

One of LaLima’s supporters stormed out of the courtroom upon Zizza’s cross-examination of Kalenka and his responses regarding his analogy that the impact he felt was akin to a speed bump or pothole.

“It is your testimony that you’re not feeling this at all,” Zizza said. “(That you) don’t feel your tires crushing a human body. You drove away.”

“Yes,” Kalenka said.

Closing arguments in the case were heard Tuesday morning. It is unknown at this time when Judge Jerald S. Carter will issue a verdict in the case and hand down a sentence. Kalenka has been out of jail on $25,000 bail since August 2012. He is charged with leaving the scene of an accident with death.