The carnage played out around 7 a.m. Wednesday at Broadway and Halsley Street in the Bushwick section.
That's where witnesses say the victim, 46-year-old Angel Torres, of Glendale, Queens, never had a chance to get out of harm's way as he was mowed down by an orange BMW while riding his bicycle down Broadway. And the driver kept right on going.
"It was a blatant hit and run, he was running from something," witness Brandon Adams said. "The way that he sped off and didn't stop for nothing, if he had just stopped, the person may have been OK. But he didn't. He just kept going, and it seems like that was the fatal move."
On Thursday, brokenhearted relatives headed to the scene to leave flowers and photographs in remembrance of Torres.
"He was invincible... And now he's gone," said Torres' companion, Cindy Reyes."We can't believe it."
Eyewitness News obtained exclusive surveillance video of the man then speeding the wrong way down one-way Thomas Boyland Street and slamming into the SUV, in which Alleyne Rush was driving his 18-year-old daughter to school.
"I didn't even see him, I didn't see, he just slammed right into me," Rush said. "Before I even turned my head he was, all I heard was bang. There was nothing I could have done."
The driver also hit two parked cars before jumping from the vehicle and running from the scene. At one point, he turned and headed back, grabbing something from the trunk of the BMW before running off again.
"He is saying something, but I couldn't distinguish what he was saying," Rush said. "He went back to his car and grabbed something and then took off."
Badly bruised but alive, Rush can't even begin to understand the actions of a driver he believes has a callous disregard for life.
"Who does that? Who does stuff like that? You either be high on something or trying to run away from something. And I guess he was running away from something," he said. "If I had been probably 4 or 5 feet further into the street, I may not be talking to you right now."
The family on Thursday also appealed for the public's help in finding the driver and for the driver to turn himself in. Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call Crime stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).
