A Long Beach man admitted Tuesday to driving drunk, crashing his car and killing his friend in the back seat, Nassau officials said.

Christhian Velasquez Galeano, 28, pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter in the death of Marco Zuniga, 27, who first responders found unresponsive immediately following a single-car wreck in February, Nassau District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a news release Tuesday.

Around 4:47 a.m. on Feb. 9, Velasquez Galeano was driving eastbound on Stewart Avenue in Garden City when he drove his Nissan Maxima into oncoming traffic, Donnelly’s office said. He then crashed the vehicle into a tree on the roadway’s westbound shoulder, which caused "significant damage to the rear driver’s side of the vehicle," according to the release.

Velasquez Galeano and the occupant of the front passenger seat got out of the car and ran north on Nassau Boulevard. Zuniga was left "slumped over" and unresponsive in the back seat, the release said.

Garden City police officers followed footprints in the snow until they located Velasquez Galeano and the surviving passenger hiding in bushes in front of a home on Nassau Boulevard, the district attorney said. Police found blood on the driver’s hands and later discovered a pair of sealed beer bottles in the Maxima’s backseat.

Velasquez Galeano "exhibited signs of intoxication" and was transported to Nassau University Medical Center for medical attention, Donnelly’s office said. The driver’s blood was drawn under court order four hours after the crash, revealing his blood alcohol concentration was .11%, above the .08 legal limit for intoxication while driving.

The front seat passenger, who was not identified in the release, sustained a neck injury and was also transported to NUMC for treatment.

Zuniga was brought to NYU Langone Long Island Hospital and pronounced dead at 5:43 a.m., the district attorney said.

"This defendant put the safety of other motorists at risk as he drunkenly and recklessly veered into oncoming traffic, and like a coward, fled the scene after he crashed, leaving his friend for dead in the backseat of the car," Donnelly said in a statement. "Today’s guilty plea marks the third time in the last decade that Galeano has been convicted of driving while intoxicated, making him a clear recidivist offender with a blatant disregard for the law. Our thoughts remain with Marco Zuniga’s family, and we hope they can now feel a measure of accountability."

On Tuesday, Velasquez Galeano pleaded guilty before Acting Supreme Court Justice Caryn Fink in Nassau County Court in Mineola to first-degree vehicular manslaughter operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, leaving the scene of an incident without reporting, first-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, false personation and circumvention of an interlock device, according to Donnelly’s release.

"Today Christhian took full responsibility for the tragic events in February," Robert Schalk, Velasquez Galeano’s defense attorney, told Newsday in a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon. "He expressed his remorse for what occurred and did not want to put either family through a trial. He avoided significant jail time by agreeing to this disposition."

Velasquez Galeano is scheduled to return to court for sentencing on July 30, and is expected to receive the "the maximum allowable sentence of 9 5/6 to 22 years in prison," the release said.