Friday, January 17, 2025
Yonatan Cohen, of Hewlett, has been arrested in connection with a Dec. 18 hit-and-run that killed 74-year-old Jeffery Frank, a longtime member of the Hewlett Fire Department.
Cohen, 21, is charged with leaving the scene of an incident.
Nassau police say Frank was struck by a dark-colored SUV while crossing Broadway near 1345 Broadway around 10 p.m. Witnesses reported seeing the driver stop briefly to drag the victim to the roadside before leaving the scene.
Frank, who was pronounced dead at a local hospital, was remembered by family, friends and the Hewlett Fire Department at a service on Dec. 23 at Boulevard-Riverside Chapels, also in Hewlett.
A 35-year member of the Hewlett F.D., Frank was known for his encyclopedic knowledge of music, which he put to use as a longtime DJ, a tremendous singing voice —performing karaoke was a favorite pastime — and for being that person with a good heart.
“He was the kind of guy who would give you the shirt off his back,” Rabbi Ronald Androphy, rabbi emeritus of the East Meadow Beth-El Jewish Center who serves as the chaplain for the East Meadow Fire Department, said at the service. “He had an emphatic heart.”
Cohen was arraigned at First District Court in Hempstead, on Dec. 30.
