"It's so hard. He was such a delightful young man. It's very hard for me right now," said Laverne Dobbinson.
Dobbinson says Tamon Robinson was the oldest of her five children always looking after his younger sisters.
Mother says "He was a good kid. He was hard working. He always contributed to the house hold. He never disrespected anyone," she adds.
Two weeks ago, police responded to calls about a man stealing paving stones used as tree borders from the Bayview Houses in Canarsie.
When officers arrived around 5:30 a.m., they say Robinson ran toward his building.
He was hit by a police cruiser.
The 27 year old was taken to Brookdale University Hospital.
He was in a coma for nearly a week before he died.
"The question has been raised whether he was stealing paving stones. The penalty for stealing paving stones is not death," said attorney Sanford Rubenstein.
The District Attorney's office says charges were dropped in this case but Robinson pleaded guilty four times before for possession of stolen items.
His family says the Canarsie man had permission from the complex's management to take the stones.
They say he ran a side business collecting them to sell to scrap dealers.
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