Sister of Bronx man killed by hit-and-run Mercedes driver has faith driver will be caught
The sister of a Bronx father of three killed by a heartless hit-and-run Mercedes driver believes the fugitive drier will eventually be nabbed.
Kelvin Mitchell, 43, was crossing Webster Ave. midblock near E. 168th St., just around the corner from his home, when he was mowed down by the driver of a black Mercedes-Benz about 12:45 a.m. on Saturday, cops said. The driver has not been caught.
'God is going to make sure that my brother sees justice,' the victim's sister Justina Lorrious told the Daily News. 'I believe it. I feel it.'
Video obtained by Bronx News 12 shows a black sedan barreling down a bus lane just moments before the crash, with an NYPD van heading in the same direction in a different lane a few seconds later. An NYPD spokesman couldn't say Sunday if cops in the van were chasing the Mercedes driver before the crash.
Lorrious called her brother 'a light of sunshine' in his community. He had a son and two daughters and became a grandfather just a few months ago.
'Great father, great person — everybody in the community loved him,' she said. 'Everybody knew Kelvin. He grew up in his neighborhood his whole life and he's gonna be greatly missed. Everybody is missing Kelvin. It's not gonna be the same over here without him.'
He was a talented basketball player growing up, his sister recalled.
'He was really, really, really, really good in basketball, but unfortunately it didn't work out so he just did other things,' Lorrious said
'He did a lot of construction work as well, but he was self-employed. He made sweat suits and stuff like that.'.
She described him as a problem solver and a positive person who could always see the good in people. He was on his way back from a nearby store when the hit-and-run driver struck him.
'I just believe that people should just be more cautious, because now a family is missing a loved one and it's just not fair. We shouldn't be afraid to come outside and not make it home,' she said. 'Just coming from the store, walking the street, the next thing you know he's gone.'
'I feel like it's even more hurtful that they kept going,' she added. 'They didn't even have the decency to stop to see if he was OK or to show any type of remorse.'
The NYPD highway collision investigation squad is investigating the crash.
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