Arrest in fatal crash

An 18-year-old from Freeport was charged with several felonies related to the death of a 6-year-old West Hempstead girl Monday morning.

Nassau County police on Tuesday said Jorge Bonilla Gutierrez of Jesse Street was arrested and charged with second-degree manslaughter, second-degree vehicular manslaughter, four counts of assault, and driving while intoxicated.

Police say Bonilla Gutierrez crashed a 2005 Nissan SUV while “traveling at a high rate of speed” on Hempstead Turnpike near Westminster Road at 2:22 a.m. Aug. 7. Police said there were three people in the 2009 Toyota Corolla and two pedestrians standing alongside the Corolla when it was struck.

Monday afternoon, the Nassau Homicide Squad said that 6-year-old Katerine Vanegas-Hernandez of West Hempstead was killed in the crash.

All six people were taken to local hospitals, and police said Vanegas-Hernandez, who was a passenger in the Toyota, was pronounced dead by hospital staff.

Bonilla Gutierrez was scheduled to be arraigned bedside in the hospital on Tuesday, Aug. 8.

The investigation is continuing.