A 50-year-old West Sayville woman has been indicted on felony charges after prosecutors say she struck a jogger from behind on Brook Street before dawn, then spent days moving her damaged SUV between three different towns to keep police from finding it. Heather Foster allegedly drove away after briefly looking at the unconscious jogger lying on the ground, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office.
The jogger, later identified as 60-year-old Sayville resident Michele Walters, was struck while jogging eastbound along Brook Street at about 5:29 a.m. on May 16, 2026, according to Patch. An Uber driver and passenger discovered Walters unconscious on the roadside roughly 15 minutes after the impact and called 911. She suffered a compound fracture of her left leg and other injuries, and underwent numerous surgeries, according to Shore News Network.
Prosecutors say the Brook Street crash that hurt Walters wasn't Foster's only collision that morning. Roughly 50 minutes earlier, at about 4:38 a.m., Foster allegedly sideswiped a parked white Honda CR-V while driving east on the same street, causing significant damage to the CR-V's driver side, per the same Patch report. She then continued driving around West Sayville for approximately 50 minutes without notifying police of either crash, according to Shore News Network.
A Four-Day Chase to Track Down the Mazda
Investigators say surveillance video captured the collision and, combined with vehicle debris recovered at both crash scenes, allowed detectives to trace Foster's 2021 Mazda CX-5 back to her. The Suffolk County Police Department's Major Case Unit used surveillance footage to track Foster's movements, according to Daily Voice.
Prosecutors allege Foster moved the Mazda across Long Island three separate times over four days to conceal it. She reportedly drove the SUV from West Sayville to a family member's home in Medford, then later that day moved it to a friend's garage in Bohemia, where it was stored, before eventually bringing the vehicle back to the garage at her own West Sayville home several days later. Detectives finally impounded the SUV after executing a search warrant at Foster's home on Lorraine Circle, the same report notes. The Mazda showed visible front-end damage to its hood and passenger side that was consistent with both collisions, and investigators seized the vehicle as evidence.
Arrest, Arraignment, and Felony Charges
Officers arrested Foster on Cherry Avenue in Sayville, and she was taken into custody on May 20, 2026. She was arraigned before Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Steven A. Pilewski, who suspended her driver's license and placed her on supervised release. Foster is represented by attorney Richard Pellegrino, according to Shore News Network.
Foster was indicted after allegedly fleeing both crashes on Brook Street. She faces charges of leaving the scene of an incident without reporting resulting in serious physical injury, tampering with physical evidence, and leaving the scene of an incident without reporting property damage — the last of which is a traffic infraction. The two felony counts are Class E felonies under New York law, and Foster faces 1⅓ to four years in prison if convicted of the top count.
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney addressed the case directly, saying that leaving the scene of a crash does not make it go away. His office said surveillance video and vehicle debris helped investigators trace the Mazda to Foster.
Why Foster Wasn't Held on Bail
Under New York's Criminal Procedure Law, non-violent Class E felonies — including leaving the scene of an accident causing serious injury and tampering with evidence — are not bail eligible, according to the New York State Senate. That statutory restriction is why Justice Pilewski was legally required to release Foster under supervised conditions rather than setting cash bail. Foster is scheduled to return to court on October 28, 2026.
Part of a Broader Pattern on Suffolk Roads
The case lands amid ongoing scrutiny of traffic safety across Suffolk County, which has consistently posted some of the worst roadway fatality numbers in the state. A 2024 state traffic safety data analysis found Suffolk County recorded 143 fatal traffic collisions in 2023, giving it the highest traffic fatality rate among New York's 20 most populous counties at 10.2 deaths per 100,000 residents — nearly double the statewide rate, according to Newsday.
Separately, data from the Institute for Traffic Safety Management and Research showed that about 41% of the 695 traffic fatalities recorded in Suffolk County between 2019 and 2023 involved substance-related drivers, compared with a statewide average of 31%, Newsday reported. A decade-long Newsday analysis published earlier this year also found that vehicular crashes across Nassau and Suffolk counties killed more than 2,100 people and seriously injured over 16,000 others between 2014 and 2023.
