FLUSHING, Queens (WABC) – A 56-year-old man has died after a hit-and-run accident in Queens and police are searching for two women who fled the scene of the accident.
David Opiela was struck when two vehicles collided on Kissena Boulevard and the Horace Harding Expressway shortly before 12:30 a.m. Tuesday.
A Honda Accord traveling south on Kissena collided with a U-Haul truck traveling west on the Horace Harding Expressway, authorities said.
Video of the moments before the crash shows that as the U-Haul truck was about to cross the intersection, another car pulled up next to it – suggesting that the U-Haul truck may have missed a red light.
After the accident, both vehicles jumped the curb. Opiela appears to have crossed the road at this point and was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.
The 42-year-old driver of the Honda is recovering at New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital.
The driver and passenger of the U-Haul truck, both women, fled west on Kissena Boulevard. Both women were barefoot.
The truck was not stolen and police are now working to identify the women.
Those who knew Opiela are heartbroken.
“A good man, soft-spoken, didn’t rob, didn’t steal, didn’t hurt anyone… just minded his own business and went home,” said his close friend Michael Abbate.
An ex-girlfriend he was with for 30 years said he had had a difficult life and lost several family members in a house fire, including a twin sister a few years ago.
However, it is said that he kept his head down and did his best to overcome his problems.
Now relatives are hoping for answers while police continue to investigate and search for the suspects.
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