New York woman dies in hit-and-run by a suspected drunk driver she refused to ride with earlier, officials say

By Artemis Moshtaghian, CNN

(CNN) — A young woman walking along a road in Upstate New York was struck and killed by a suspected drunken driver – a coworker whom she had been drinking with earlier in the night and refused to ride with, authorities say.

Madison Faltisco, 22, was bar hopping with the coworker in the town of Clay on Thursday night, and later refused to get into her coworker’s car at around 10:30 p.m., choosing instead to walk home, according to Onondaga County Sheriff’s spokesperson Thomas Newton.

Faltisco started walking down Oswego Street and made it just past an intersection before 23-year-old Joshua Schiano hit her with his car and kept driving down the street, according to Newton and a criminal complaint filed with the Onondaga District Attorney’s Office.

Within two minutes of striking the young woman with his car, Schiano got into another crash less than a mile down the road, striking a store sign and items outside a Salvation Army thrift store, according to the complaint.

Schiano’s car caught fire and someone pulled him out of the car before police arrived, Newton said. The complaint says Schiano was intoxicated but does not give details about his blood alcohol test results.

Schiano did not tell anyone that he had struck someone before crashing into the sign, Newton said.

“Through our investigation we were able to find out that he knew that he had hit something or someone before getting into the accident,” he said.

Detectives interviewed the young woman’s friends and determined she had earlier refused a ride from Schiano, said Newton, who described Faltisco and Schiano as coworkers.

Faltisco’s body was discovered by a passerby around 5 a.m. the following day, more than six hours after she was struck, Newton said, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

“It’s a heavily trafficked four lane road during the day,” Newton said. “Numerous cars probably passed by her body before someone called it in.”

Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office charged Schiano with three felonies: second-degree manslaughter, punishable by up to 15 years in prison; vehicular manslaughter, punishable by up to 7 years; and leaving the scene of a fatal accident, which is punishable by up to 7 years. They said more charges are possible.

CNN has reached out to an attorney for Schiano for comment.

Faltisco’s family has started a GoFundMe page to raise money for her burial costs.

“She was only 22. Her bright light was extinguished in seconds,” the fundraiser organizer says on the page. “Her family is living a nightmare, preparing to bury their beautiful daughter and sister.”

Schiano was arraigned Friday night where the judge entered a plea of not guilty, according to the DA’s office. A court date will be set after the case is presented to the grand jury. He is being held at the Onondaga County Justice Center with bail set at $500,000 bond or $250,000 cash, according to Newton.

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