Anthony Borrelli

aborrelli@pressconnects.com | @PSBABorrelli

The driver accused in the fatal hit-and-run of 20-year-old Binghamton University student Stefani Lineva along Route 434 pleaded not guilty Thursday to leaving the scene of a personal injury accident resulting in her death.

Aizaz Siddiqui, 26, of Binghamton, was identified by police Thursday as the driver of a 2013 BMW who allegedly struck Lineva early Saturday, then fled the scene. His arrest Wednesday night followed an extensive investigation by detectives working around the clock since the fatality and tips from the public fueled by a $30,000 reward for information, officials said at a Thursday news conference in City Hall.

Binghamton Police Chief Joseph Zikuski said investigators have more work to do in developing the case, and while he credited people who came forward with information, he said others yet to come forward likely have vital clues that could help detectives close the case sooner.

"I would like to voice my disappointment in some members of our community ... that through our investigation, we have determined have information that would've substantially helped us," Zikuski said Thursday. "There's people out there that still haven't come forward; we hope they will."

Siddiqui was arraigned Thursday afternoon in Binghamton City Court and sent to the Broome County jail without bail, pending further court appearances.

At Thursday's news conference, police would not disclose specifics of how or where Siddiqui was located Wednesday, nor would they disclose details of any damage to the vehicle he was operating.

Zikuski said information was provided to detectives that led to him being taken into custody. It remains to be determined, he said, whether the reward for information that led to an arrest and conviction of the alleged hit-and-run driver will be paid out.

Siddiqui was operating a 2013 BMW on Route 434, with a passenger, at 2:05 a.m. when he allegedly struck Lineva, according to police and court papers. Zikuski would not say where the driver was going at the time of the accident, and prosecutors say Siddiqui's passenger is not expected to be charged.

While police believe Lineva had been drinking at the time she was struck, Zikuski said, the question of whether the driver accused of hitting her had been intoxicated remained unclear Thursday. Police were not able to bring a drunken-driving charge days after the incident, Zikuski said, adding Siddidqui has a driver's license.

Officials on Thursday also tried dispelling previous claims, some raised by Lineva's family in news reports, that she was murdered. Lineva was missing her cellphone and wallet when she was found along Route 434, police said, but those items were later found on the city's West Side. Police believe she dropped them earlier in the evening.

Police also said there was no evidence indicating Siddiqui struck the victim intentionally.

Investigators have surveillance video evidence placing Lineva walking alone near the accident location around 2 a.m., according to Zikuski. This was also corroborated by eyewitness accounts that place her near the scene alone, he said.

"We're confident through our investigation that this was a hit-and-run accident," Zikuski said Thursday.

Although investigators know where Lineva was 15 minutes before she was struck, Zikuski said they do not know where she was walking to. He would not disclose where she had been before the accident.

Police say Lineva was found against a concrete median on Route 434 near the Pennsylvania Avenue exit, an area that students occasionally walk along back to campus, but it is prohibited from pedestrian use.

Two medical examinations from forensic pathologists, one of them independent from the investigation, detailed Lineva's injuries as consistent with being struck by a vehicle, Zikuski said.

Reporting accident makes big difference

The felony charge of leaving the scene of a personal-injury accident resulting in death is punishable by up to seven years in state prison, if the defendant is convicted.

Court papers say Siddiqui allegedly left the accident scene without stopping to identify himself, show his license and other required documents, as well as fail to report the incident to police as soon as he was physically able.

Generally, the law provides a distinction between an accident reported to police and one that is not, Broome County District Attorney Steve Cornwell said Thursday.

"Under our law, if someone were to be involved in an accident, this would be a civil case involving negligence, but there would be no crime," Cornwell said. "There's a big differentiation between an accident that results in death that somebody reports and an accident that results in death that nobody reports."

The investigation is continuing, he said, and the case is expected to go before the grand jury in Broome County Court for consideration of an indictment. A grand jury can consider additional or different charges against the defendant, he said, but that determination will be made at a later date.

A look at victim and defendant

According to Siddiqui's LinkedIn profile, he is employed as a front desk supervisor at the Doubletree hotel in downtown Binghamton and a graduate of the University at Buffalo. He previously attended SUNY Broome Community College from 2009 to 2010, according to records.

Lineva, a BU junior from Middle Village, is listed on the BU Bearcats website on the roster of the women's tennis team. This semester was her first at BU after transferring from Adelphi University on Long Island.

Her Facebook page indicates she was born in Bulgaria and moved to America as a young girl. She graduated from Forest Hills High School in Queens.

"Stef was bright, smart, happy, always smiling and singing," her mother, Daniela Atanassova-Lineva, previously told NBC New York.

Lineva, who lived downtown, is being remembered as a "spirited and vibrant" student athlete, BU President Harvey Stenger said Monday.

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