Arlin Aguilera, of West Hempstead, found guilty in DWI crash that killed 15-year-old Liel Namdar

A Nassau County jury convicted a West Hempstead drunken driver on Wednesday of killing a 15-year-old girl on her way to a summer camp sleepover almost three years ago.

The driver, Arlin Aguilera, 37,fled the jurisdiction before the trial and was tried in absentia. He forfeited his $100,000 cash bail and he's considered a fugitive. The judge issued a bench warrant for his arrest and authorities are trying to locate him.

Prosecutors charge he had a blood alcohol content of 0.09%, just over the legal limit to drive, on Dec. 11, 2021, when he plowed his 2014 Dodge Ram 1500 into the Audi Q5 SUV driven by Miriam Meltser, 41, and carrying Liel Namdar, 15, at Peninsula Boulevard and Edward Avenue in Woodmere.

Meltser, whose daughter was a friend of Liel, was driving to Valley Stream for a sleepover around 11 p.m. when the crash happened. The girls had just come from a summer camp reunion.

The onboard computer of Aguilera’s pickup showed that he was traveling 73 mph, more than double the 30 mph speed limit, when the vehicles collided, according to prosecutors.

Aguilera was found guilty of aggravated vehicular homicide, manslaughter, several counts of assault and two counts of drunken driving.

At the stop sign at Edward Avenue, Meltser slowed to 6 mph but never stopped before pulling out to turn left onto Penninsula Boulevard, officials said.

"The night quickly changed from one of laughter and fun to one of pain and tragedy," Nassau County Assistant District Attorney Brianna Ryan said in her opening statement. "Five lives destroyed and forever altered by the defendant’s drunk and reckless actions."

Liel, a sophomore at the Torah Academy for Girls in Far Rockaway, suffered severe head injuries in the crash. Emergency responders sped her to the hospital, but she could not be saved.

Meltser, whose daughter was also in the car, also suffered severe head injuries and cannot recall the accident to this day, Ryan said.

Paramedic Eli Langer, who volunteers with the local Hatzalah ambulance corps, testified in court that he happened to be driving behind Meltser when Aguilera struck her car.

Prosecutors played a video recording from his emergency vehicle that captured the horrific scene when the pickup slammed into the Audi.

Langer testified that Meltser had no pulse and appeared unresponsive when he got to the driver's side.

The crash had distorted the frame of the car to the point that the emergency worker could not reach in to unfasten the woman’s seat belt, Langer testified. The driver’s side wheel had been ripped off the car and the front windshield was shattered, prosecutors said.

Meltser spent three weeks in the hospital.

“[Aguilera] walked out of the driver seat of the Dodge pickup truck uninjured and drunk," Ryan said.

He told investigators he had a glass of wine at dinner just before the collision, but two hours after the wreck he still registered too drunk to drive, prosecutors said.

It took the jury less than an hour to reach a verdict.

"He drank more than a glass of wine," juror Carl Sclafani, 67, of Massapequa, said. "The evidence was overwhelming."

The jury did not learn that Aguilera had fled until after the verdict.

"It was very disappointing," he said.

Gary Schwartz, 69, the jury foreman, called it a "very sad, tragic case."

He said that initially he had reservations about the case because Meltser had not fully braked at the stop sign, but he said testimony showed that Aguilera’s speed played a major role in the fatal crash.

"It was that reckless speed of 73 mph that contributed to the death of this girl and made me think that Meltser’s action was not a contributing factor," he said.

Schwartz said he hoped the Namdar family would keep their daughter’s memory alive forever.

"It will always be painful," he said. "But I hope in time that the sweet memories of their daughter will shine through."

Aguilera’s lawyer declined to comment.

The Namdars and Meltser could not be reached for comment.

The sentencing date is October 4.