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A photo of Rajine Martinez, 21, of Albany left at a memorial near the scene where Martinez was killed by a hit-and-run driver Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017 in Washington Park in Albany (Amanda Fries/Times Union)
A photo of Rajine Martinez, 21, of Albany left at a memorial near the scene where Martinez was killed by a hit-and-run driver Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017 in Washington Park in Albany (Amanda Fries/Times Union)
ALBANY — A man accused of driving off after his car hit a vehicle Feb. 4 on Washington Avenue is being investigated by detectives who suspect he was the driver who hit and killed a woman in Washington Park just minutes after the first crash, acting Police Chief Robert Sears said Monday.
Jose A. Martinez, 30, of Albany was arrested on a parole violation during a midnight raid early Friday, Albany police spokesman Officer Steve Smith said.
Martinez was also ticketed for a property damage hit-and-run that happened nearby and moments before the Washington Park crash that killed Rajine Martinez, Sears said. He said there is no known relation between Jose Martinez and Rajine Martinez.
At about 4 a.m. on Feb. 4, an SUV driving through Washington Park hit the 21-year-old Albany woman, police said.
The former University of Albany student was lying in the middle of Washington Park Road before she was hit, Sears said. Two bystanders had been trying to help the semi-conscious woman, he said.
Police are still working to determine why she was unconscious and why she was lying in the roadway, Sears said.
The driver fled the scene, witnesses told police. When officers arrived, Rajine Martinez was injured and lying in the road, Smith said. She was taken to Albany Medical Center, where she later died.
City police said they found the green Jeep they believe was involved in the fatal hit-and-run the next day. Officers are still running forensic tests on the vehicle, Sears said.
Five days later, police arrested Jose Martinez, using a parole warrant and ticketed him for the earlier hit-and-run.
He was charged with following too close, leaving the scene of a property damage accident and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. He is being held at Albany County Jail on a parole violation connected to a September 2015 drug-related conviction, his arrest report states.
Jose Martinez is accused of rear-ending a 2015 Chevrolet on Feb. 4 at the intersection of Henry Johnson Boulevard and Washington Avenue.
His arrest report states he fled the scene at 3:57 a.m., heading east onto Central Avenue, west onto Spring Street and then north through Washington Park.
Rajine Martinez was hit on Washington Park Road at 4 a.m.
Sears said detectives are working to collect enough evidence to charge Jose Martinez in the fatal crash.
Rajine Martinez, a 2013 graduate of Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk High School, once had art work displayed at a juried show at Columbia-Greene Community College, and received a New York state Education Department Scholarship for Academic Excellence, according to previous web pages posted by the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk school district.
Rajine Martinez is also a former student at the University at Albany. She was last registered in spring 2016, according to the school. Martinez posted on her Facebook page that she was a psychology major and worked at Camp Wilton, a state summer camp in Saratoga County for the developmentally disabled.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Albany Police Detective Division at 518-462-8039.
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