Loved ones 'greatly shattered' by loss of man killed by accused drunk driver in Manhattan
UPPER WEST SIDE, Manhattan (WABC) -- Loved ones are remembering one of the two men killed last Friday by an accused drunk driver, who plowed into a group of people outside a barber shop in Manhattan.
Flowers and candles fill the sidewalk on Amsterdam Avenue by 109th Street on the Upper West Side.
The signs of sorrow continue around the corner and down 110th Street to Broadway into the vestibule of a condo.
"He was here when I brought my babies home from the hospital. He knew all the babysitters. He knew my parents," said resident Amee Shah. "He wasn't just a doorman, he was universally beloved by everyone."
Jason Nagron, 46, was a popular doorman for 20 years. Eyewitness News was told he was walking home along Amsterdam Avenue last Friday when a driver jumped the curb and killed him.
His daughter Naiyah spoke about him on Tuesday night.
"He was the kind of person who made any, and everybody feel loved and cared for, regardless of who they were," Naiyah Nagron said. "Our entire community was greatly shattered by the loss of him
Kenny Wong was about to join a group of local men outside the barber shop last week but at the last minute he ran an errand. He says that's when the car went speeding past him.
"I made a left instead of a right," Wong said. "He went flying into the guys that were sitting right behind the van and a couple that was standing there."
A second fatality, Michael Saint Hilaire, leaves behind three young children.
A barber says he has been cutting hair for both victims since they were 7 years old. He says the driver didn't seem to know what had happened.
"He asked me, 'did I hit anyone?' I said 'yeah, you hit a lot of people from the neighborhood,'" said barber Ruben Sena.
The driver of the Mercedes, Elvin Suarez, was arrested at the scene and charged with drunk driving and vehicular homicide.
"What Elvin Suarez did to my father and his friends wrecked all of our lives, and I know that he'll pay for it both physically and emotionally," Naiyah Nagron said.
There were other victims injured, but they are expected to survive. Meanwhile, two families are now left fatherless.
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