A tough-working Mexican immigrant was killed final week by a heartless hit-and-run driver who struck him close to a Brooklyn intersection — leaving the person to die in the identical method his father did 4 many years in the past.
Felix Mendez, 49, of Lafayette Avenue, had been strolling via the intersection of Lafayette and Bedford Avenue at about 3 a.m. on Thursday when a automotive struck him, in accordance with the NYPD.
As an alternative of stopping, the driving force continued north on Bedford — forsaking a gravely-injured Mendez, cops mentioned.
He was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in crucial situation, and was later pronounced lifeless.
Alejandro Flores, Mendez’s 45-year-old good friend and neighbor, informed The Submit that his pal died in eerily comparable style to his father, who was killed in a hit-and-run in Mexico 40 years in the past.
“His father was using a motorcycle, and he was killed by a drunk driving a automotive,” Flores mentioned of Mendez, who was simply 8 years outdated on the time. “Somebody got here to his home and informed his mom, ‘Your husband is lifeless within the street.’”
“He all the time remembered that,” Flores continued. “Now it’s the identical for him. It’s very unhappy.”
The sufferer’s 40-year-old nephew, Francisco Mendez, mentioned he’d already informed his uncle’s 4 siblings, who stay in Mexico, and his son, Leonardo, who lives in California, about his passing.
“Leonardo, he’s 22. He began crying. He can’t speak, he’s crying,” Francisco Mendez mentioned. “They talked very recurrently. They by no means went greater than two weeks. They’re very shut. Felix separated [from the mother] a very long time in the past, however he’s all the time caring for his son.”
Flores mentioned he and Felix Mendez grew shut throughout their years working at a restaurant on Broad Road within the late 2000s — “I received him that job, we had been the one Mexicans right here,” he mentioned.
Felix Mendez, who got here to America round 1999, was working to fund the development of a home in Puebla, Mexico, which he’d been engaged on for the final three years.
Finally, he needed to maneuver again to Mexico and grow to be a pig farmer, Flores mentioned. However the work had gone slowly, since Felix Mendez was usually siphoning off cash to ship to his son out west.
“All people’s dream is to do that: To earn a living and construct for themselves,” Flores mentioned. “And he did it! The one delay he had was the cash he was sending his son. … He solely stopped constructing the home when he has to ship this cash.”
Flores remembered Felix Mendez as an extremely exhausting employee, placing in tons of hours and late nights at his two restaurant jobs.
However he additionally tried to maintain himself in form, and hit the monitor three days every week it doesn’t matter what he’d been doing the evening earlier than.
“Felix labored very, very exhausting — he by no means stopped working,” Flores mentioned. “Even after working late nights, he’d get up at 7 a.m. and run on the monitor close by.”
The 2 had hoped to someday run the New York Metropolis Marathon.
“The marathon passes proper by right here, and yearly we sit right here and say, ‘We’re going to do that,’” Flores mentioned. “However the time is coming, and we’re working seven days and we will’t get the time to coach. So we’ve been saying we need to do that, however we haven’t.”
Francisco Mendez, the nephew, mentioned they’re attempting to ship his uncle’s physique dwelling to Puebla. But it surely’s been exhausting elevating sufficient cash to take action.
“We’re doing it solely via folks we all know, $5 right here, $10 there,” he mentioned. “It’s very troublesome.”
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