by Chris Munzing
Geizhals was struck by a car as he walked north across West Broadway at Washington Boulevard, according to a police report. He was pronounced dead at the scene, apparently from massive blunt trauma. The driver fled the scene of the accident, but Charlie Hamlet, 40, of Long Beach, turned himself in to the Long Beach Police Department at 12:45 p.m. on Monday, roughly 12 hours after the incident took place.
The Long Beach Police Department would not comment on the incident. Since it was being treated as a homicide, local police turned the investigation over to the Nassau County Police Department's Homicide Division. Detective Sgt. Richard Laursen of the Homicide Division said that Geizhals was returning to his car after a night at the beach when he was allegedly struck by Hamlet's red 1998 Mitsubishi Eclipse. The car has since been impounded.
At press time, police had not yet determined whether or not alcohol or drugs had played a part in the incident. "At this point, we don't have definitive evidence," Laursen said.
Hamlet was charged with leaving the scene of a fatal automobile accident, a Class E felony, and was released on an appearance ticket. Laursen said that Class E felonies carry a minimum sentence of one year in jail. "For an E felony, you can get anywhere from a minimum of one to a maximum of four [years]," Laursen explained, adding that the investigation was ongoing, and more charges could be added.
Calls to Geizhals' family were not returned. According to a Newsday article, the elderly victim was a Holocaust survivor who had been placed in the Krakow ghetto with his family when he was a child. The ghetto was featured in the film "Schindler's List." Geizhals, it was said, was always willing to discuss his ordeal with family and friends, and had a positive outlook on life despite his traumatic childhood.
When approached by the Herald, Hamlet said he could not discuss his situation, but his attorney, Ray Radow, described his client as "a very popular, very well-liked guy. Very respected." Hamlet, Radow said, spent several years in the military as a paratrooper, and has worked in area nursing homes, volunteered at local schools with the DARE program and currently works as a personal trainer.
"The guy's a complete wreck," Radow said of Hamlet. "He's completely devastated. Just the thought of being involved in this thing has pretty much crushed him."
Radow said that Hamlet knew that he had hit something, but never thought it was another person. "As soon as he had even the slightest inkling something happened, he ran right over to the police," Radow said of his client, whom Radow maintains has been nothing but cooperative with law enforcement officials. Radow said that Hamlet was scheduled to appear in court on Thursday, July 31, but that he expected the hearing to just be a formality, to officially turn the case over to the First District Court in Hempstead.
