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Tests show no drugs or alcohol in trucker’s system during fatal crash

BARBARELLEN KOCH PHOTO | The notorious Baiting Hollow hill on Sound Avenue, where a disabled man from Port Jefferson was killed while riding in a Maryhaven bus that was hit by a truck in April.

While police and prosecutors continue to investigate the fatal Baiting Hollow crash caused by an out-of-control truck, the News-Review was able to learn the trucker wasn’t driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash.

“Initial alcohol and drug screens are back from the lab and show no drugs or alcohol in the truck driver’s system,” said Bob Clifford, a spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota.

Riverhead Police Chief David Hegermiller told the newspaper Monday detectives would be conferencing later this week with assistant district attorney staffers about possible charges.

Chief Hegermiller had previously said he expected charges to be filed.

The victim in the April 20 crash on Sound Avenue, Brian Costello, 36, of Mount Sinai, was waked days later in Port Jefferson, where his brother, Robert, said his brother “touched the lives of everybody he met.”

“If you showed him kindness, he was your friend,” he told mourners.