A 68-year old Brooklyn man killed by a hit-and-run driver on New Year’s Day had been struggling with grief over the recent death of his wife, neighbors said Monday.
Nearly every day since Elvin Sanchez’s wife died a couple of months ago after a long battle with diabetes, he could be found at the home of the elderly couple in the apartment next door, grabbing a meal and talking about the love of his life.
Even on the day he died — when Sanchez was fatally struck crossing Linden Blvd. in East New York less than an hour into the near year — his neighbors had dinner on the table later that day waiting for him to stop by.
“When the wife died, he came in here every day to eat,” said Margie Marqez, 84, who lived next door to the victim in their apartment building less than a mile from where he was killed.
“He told me the last time [he was here], he’s feeling lonely. He misses his wife. He don’t have nobody. That’s what he told me.”
Before she heard rumors about her friend’s death from other neighbors, she had fixed him a plate.
“I had dinner here for him,” she said. “I was waiting for him. I called on the telephone, nobody answered.”
“I’m crying, because that’s the only friend my husband got, and me, too,” she added.
Sanchez was struck by a 2004 Mercury Grand Marquis with Pennsylvania plates as he tried to cross the wide boulevard at about 12:55 a.m. last Thursday. The impact sent him flying off the car’s hood, according to court papers.
Linden Blvd. and Ashford St. in Brooklyn. (Google)
The car’s driver, traveling on Ashford St., struck the victim, stopped without getting out, then kept going, according to prosecutors.
Sanchez was crossing against the pedestrian signal, according to police. Medics rushed him to Brookdale University Hospital, where he died less than six hours later.
Cops arrested 70-year-old Anselm Okeke, who also lives within a mile of the crash scene, according to cops, later that day. He admitted to striking the victim, telling cops he “got scared” and fled, according to the criminal complaint against him.
He was charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident.
Okeke was arraigned in Brooklyn Criminal Court on Friday and released without bail until his next court appearance April 30. His Legal Aid lawyer declined to comment Monday, and Okeke couldn’t be reached.
Marqez’s husband, Royce Moore, 69, described his friend as a reliable handyman who, before he retired recently, did some maintenance work on the building where they lived.
“He was kind, always wanted to help with anything,” Moore said. “If it was a car, he’d work on the car. If it was to help me with anything, he was always available. Always volunteered his services. And I did the same for him. He always kept his word. He had a passion for just being handy.”
Like his wife, Moore was puzzled when their friend didn’t show up to eat dinner.
“I became concerned, so I started calling,” he said.
“I even went and knocked on the door a few times. And I overheard someone mention that someone got hit by a car. So I just decided to go on the internet and look at accidents in Brooklyn, and I just happened to see a 68-year-old hit. Right away I just assumed it was him.”
Neighbor Tenesha, 25, said that stretch of Linden Blvd. can be very dangerous.
“Drivers typically drive really fast, and they don’t like to slow down or look,” she said.
“All in all, sometimes people are just in a hurry to go nowhere, and it’s sad that it cost him his life.”
With Sheetal Banchariya and John Annese
