Forty-eight-year-old Michael Elardo, a retired cop who spent 13 years with the NYPD, has been charged with leaving the scene of the Long Island accident that killed 13-year-old Bryanna Soplin over the weekend. He turned himself in to the police on Monday night. Elardo’s attorney, Michael DerGarabedian, told CBS 2 that his client continued driving after blowing through a red light and running into the girl as she crossed Hempstead Turnpike because “he believed he hit one of those construction cones.” Bryanna’s mother, Jennifer Curuchaga, didn’t buy his excuse: “It doesn’t matter what you hit. Your car got damaged,” she said. “Why would you not stop knowing that your front light came off or to see what the damage is?” Elardo is currently being held on $1 million bail.
