Don't Miss: Benefit for Mother's Day Hit-And-Run Victim

A fundraiser will be held Tuesday to help defray medical costs for the family of Riverhead resident Aaron Hartmann, who was critically injured by a hit-and-run driver in Flanders on Mother's Day.

Hartmann continues to recover and is now home from the hospital, his family said Sunday.

The event will be held on Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Athens Grill on East Main Street in Riverhead and will feature food, raffles, jazz music, a 50/50, a cash bar -- and an appearance by Aaron. 

The fundraiser is free but those attending should bring cash for the auctions and 50/50.

A possible multi-band concert is also being discussed for the Vail-Leavitt Music Hall, to benefit Hartmann.

At 12:51 a.m. on Mother's Day, Hartmann, 23, was walking home on County Road 105 when he was struck by a vehicle which left the scene, police said. He suffered serious physical injuries and was transported from Peconic Bay Medical Center to Stony Brook Hospital. 

According to Linda Hartmann, Aaron's mother, her son was in stable condition after he underwent surgery on his leg.

"The doctors told me that he's very lucky," Hartmann said. "They were able to save his leg."

Concerns still exist, however, about how the leg will heal and whether her son's body will reject the skin grafts.

Hartmann has said she is concerned about mounting medical bills; she is unemployed and although her son has insurance, she is fearful there will be costs she is unable to pay. To that end, Hartmann had hoped for a fundraiser to help. 

The woman charged with fleeing from the scene of the crime, Calverton resident Jacqueline Celentano, 21, was released on $30,000 bond, according to police.

Southampton Town police said Celentano was located after detectives identified her as the driver and attempted to arrest her at her residence; she responded to headquarters with her lawyer a short time later and turned herself in, Southampton Town Detective Lisa Costa said.

Costa added that the car involved in the accident was located after police received a Crime Stoppers tip that the vehicle was red. "We combed the neighborhoods block by block in the vicinity of the hit and run location," she said. "We located it at a friend’s house in Riverside off Flanders Road."

Southampton Town Police detectives arrested Celentano on Tuesday for her alleged involvement in the hit-and-run accident.

Detectives were able to identify the vehicle involved as a 2000 Chevy Impala. Celentano was charged with leaving the scene of an accident with physical injury, a felony.

After learning that Celentano was charged in the hit-and-run accident that left her son critically injured, Linda Hartmann said she was relieved by the news.

"I'm happy because it will lessen the stress of not knowing what happened," she said. "I don't feel hatred for the person," she added. Hartmann said she did not know the condition of the driver who struck her son or the circumstances. "I feel sympathy for them, knowing they will now have to go through this, too."

Hartmann added that the arrest did not change anything, though -- her son was still badly injured.

Hartmann sustained injuries including broken bones in his leg, a contusion on his forehead, and fractures in his face; he has a shunt in his skull to relieve pressure from internal bleeding in his brain.

Hartmann said she spent Mother's Day by her son's side. The day was marked by tragedy: 19 years earlier, on the same day, her sister died. Of her son's accident, she said, her voice breaking, "It's terrible."

Her son's hospitalization is his third, Hartmann said; he was alo injured in the past when his jaw was broken in three places.

Hartmann's anguished mother wants answers about what happened to her son on that dark night. "I'm upset. I'm angry. I want to understand what the circumstances were -- why someone left him like that," she said. "Whatever the case may be, they could have at least made a phone call."

Hartmann, his mom said, was excited about his future, ready to start a new landscaping job on Wednesday and eagerly awaiting, with his girlfriend Emily, the birth of their baby girl, who will be named Natalie.

He was also involved with the Salvation Army and American Legion, she said.

"Now, he's going to have to learn to walk again."