The Sheriff’s Office said the student killed in the “fatal car versus pedestrian accident” was Raymond E. Rattray, 22, of New York City.
In a letter to members of the college community, college president Darrell P. Wheeler said Rattray was a philosophy major in the school’s Educational Opportunity Program and a member of the Men’s Rugby Club.
“We extend our deepest sympathy to Raymond’s family and friends and to the faculty and staff who had the privilege to know him,” Wheeler said in the letter.
Police said they determined through an investigation that on Tuesday, Jan. 23 at approximately 5:11 p.m., Rattray, “was walking home from class on Route 208 on the shoulder of the south bound lane and was struck by a dark colored sedan traveling south.” Police said that the “vehicle fled the scene” but that it “sustained damage to the front-end on the passenger side.”
At around 1:16 p.m. on Wednesday deputies responded to state Route 208 between the area of Hawk Drive and Cross Creek Road “for the report of a deceased subject found on the side of the road,” police said. The area is near the SUNY New Paltz campus. “When deputies arrived, they located a deceased male in a wooded area approximately 20 feet from the road,” police said in a news release.
Police had announced the closure of Route 208 at around 5 p.m. on Wednesday, and the reopening at around 8 p.m.
The Ulster County Sheriff’s Office is being assisted by the New York State Police Collision Reconstruction Unit, New York State Police BCI, the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office, SUNY New Paltz Police and the Town of New Paltz Police Department, the release said.
New Paltz students who need assistance “in processing this sad loss” may contact the SUNY New Paltz Counseling Center at (845) 257-2920. College employees may contact the Employee Assistance Program at (845) 257-2886, Wheeler said.
The investigation remains open and active, police said, asking “anyone who may have witnessed this accident or has information about this accident” to call a Sheriff’s Office detective at (845) 338-3640 or call the confidential tip line at (845) 340-3599.
Rattray is the second college student killed in a hit-and-run car crash this month in Ulster County.