"To lose your life at the hands of somebody as callus, it's damning to us," said Oscar Holford's friend Andre Armstrong.
[Ads /]
To everyone at the Fresh Pond Bus Depot, they're not just colleagues -- they're family.
That included Oscar Holford, a bus operator who had been on the job for 14 years -- until Friday night, when a driver hit the 36-year-old and kept going.
RELATED | Search for hit-and-run BMW driver who killed elderly woman in Hackensack
Search for driver in fatal hit-and-run of elderly woman in Hackensack
"Oscar would have never left anyone there so if you're watching me, let's go, it's time to turn yourself in," Armstrong said.
It was Friday night around 10:15 p.m. in East New York.
[Ads /]
Holford's girlfriend Nyasha Jackson tells Eyewitness News, she dropped him off at a deli on Pitkin Avenue across from his home while she waited in the car.
But then there were sirens and an ambulance. Holford was rushed to the hospital but died on Monday.
"We were building a future together and it just, everything is gone, it's not right, it's not fair," Jackson said.
It's not fair to Holford's five daughters, who he adored so much.
"You took our father away, he has children, it's not ok," Holford's daughter Oniya Holford said.
MORE NEWS: Asian Americans told to 'go back to China' in racist rant in New York City
[Ads /]
Woman tells Asian Americans to 'go back to China' in racist rant
Police are looking for the driver, who was in a white car heading west on Pitkin.
His death sits heavy on everyone's mind back at the bus depot, where Holford is being remembered as one of the greats.
"Just to put your foot on the pedal would have saved a life," Armstrong said.
----------
* More Queens news
* Send us a news tip
* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts
* Follow us on YouTube
Submit a News Tip