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Driver Kills Man Selling Bottled Water On Queens Sidewalk
By
John Del Signore
Published Sep 24, 2013
Modified Sep 24, 2013
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By
John Del Signore
Published Sep 24, 2013
Modified Sep 24, 2013
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An unemployed tennis instructor trying to make a few bucks selling bottles of water along a Whitestone Expressway service road was fatally struck by the 78-year-old driver of a Toyota Camry yesterday afternoon. According to the NYPD, the driver "jumped the sidewalk" at approximately 2:45 p.m. and fatally struck 42-year-old Michael Munoz in the Whitestone section of Queens. The driver and the passenger sustained minor injuries and no charges have been filed.
Munoz's brother told the Post he recently lost his job as a coach for a junior tennis league in The Bronx, and was selling water by the highway to make money. "My brother was a good man," Raphael Munoz, 50, told the tabloid. “Not a bad bone in his body.”
And in an interview with ABC 7, Munoz added that their mother was hit and killed by a car a few years ago. "I'm angry but that's not gonna do nothing, I'm more sad because I'm not going to see my brother again," said Munoz. "We were just making plans to go see my mother at the graveyard."
The official NYPD statement on the collision says the investigation is "ongoing," but both ABC and the Post's sources say there's no criminality suspected.
Tagged
cis
michael munoz
queens
whitestone
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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