Cory Henson sentenced for fatal hit-and-run in Island Park

A Centereach man was sentenced to seven years in prison for a hit-and-run collision in July 2022 that killed a 30-year-old man.

Corey Henson, 33, pleaded guilty on Nov. 15 to Manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, leaving the scene of an incident resulting in death and driving while intoxicated. He was sentenced to 2-1/3 years to seven years in prison.

“Dodanim Emanuel Chavez was a devoted husband and father, who was simply moving furniture to a new home with the help of some friends when he was struck and killed by an intoxicated Corey Henson,” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly. “Henson fled the scene and finally crashed five miles later into a guardrail and disabled his vehicle. Through the combined efforts of the Nassau County Police Department Homicide Squad, the Freeport Police Department, and my prosecutors, we were able to find this defendant, retrace his movements, and hold him accountable for Mr. Chavez’s senseless and tragic death. Hit-and-run investigations are notoriously difficult to prosecute. I commend the officers and prosecutors who tracked down this defendant and brought him to justice. We continue to hold Mr. Chavez’s family in our thoughts.”

Donnelly said that, according to the charges, on July 11, 2022, 30-year-old Dodanim Emanuel Chavez was moving belongings to a new home with the help of two friends. The victim was standing along the driver’s side of his friend’s pick-up truck on Long Beach Road in Island Park when Henson struck him.

Chavez suffered severe head trauma and was taken to Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

After the collision, Henson crashed his van into a guardrail on South Main Street in Freeport and the van was towed to a local yard. The following day, Freeport police contacted the Nassau County Police Department about the van when he learned of the fatal hit-and-run collision in Island Park.

Henson was arrested on July 13, 2022, by members of the NCPD and Freeport Police Department when he arrived at the tow yard to claim his van.

A subsequent investigation revealed that prior to the collision, Henson drank multiple alcoholic beverages over the course of two hours at a local restaurant before driving his vehicle and was intoxicated when he struck the victim.