Want justice’
Find heartless driver, say kin of EMT killed on Kosciuszko
WHEN AVRIL LIANG thinks about her brother Kevin, the first thing that comes to mind is a day in July when he called her ecstatic that his lifelong dream was coming true — the proud FDNY EMT was about to become a firefighter.
“He was so happy,” Avril, 22, said, laughing at the sweet memory. “I was screaming. I was so happy for him because he really, really wanted this.”
But on Sept. 30, Kevin Liang, riding his motorcycle off duty, was killed in a hit-and-run crash on the Kosciuszko Bridge between Brooklyn and Queens. No arrests have been made. “His job is to help people and now it’s the other way — now he needs help,” Avril told the Daily News, wiping back tears. “My parents just want some answers. When he works 16 hours straight to help other people, why isn’t anyone helping him?”
Liang, 27, was due to start training at the Fire Academy in December. He had ranked 35th out of the 2,000 people who took the test, Avril said.
As detectives continue to look for the motorist, Liang’s family is offering $25,000 for any information about the driver.
“We want to find this guy,” said Liang’s cousin Pang Lee, 42. “It’s important to learn what happened, but we also want justice.
“We’re worried that once we lay him to rest that this will be just another hit-and-run that just gets lost,” he added.
Liang was crossing the bridge about 7:50 p.m. when a black Lexus struck him as it changed lanes. The Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, native lost control of his motorcycle and was thrown onto the asphalt, police said.
Medics rushed Liang to Woodhull Hospital but he could not be saved.
“This is the Kosciuszko Bridge,” Lee said. “I find it really hard to believe that there’s nobody that has some footage or some information that would lead to the identification of the guy that hit him and ran.”
A witness told The News that the motorist stopped but jumped back in his car and drove off after callously checking his Lexus for damage.
The witness said the Lexus didn’t have a license plate — just a temporary sticker on the back window. Investigators told the family they have not recovered any surveillance images of the vehicle.
Liang’s birthday was just two days before he was fatally struck. He had a low-key celebration at home with his parents and grandparents.
On the day he died, he was on his way to have dinner with his girlfriend in Flushing, relatives said.
As he prepared for training at the fire academy in December, he ate a lot of carbs and lifted weights to bulk up.
“He was eating so much pasta, at work the Italian guys were asking if he was Italian,” his cousin Henry Liang, 29, said.
A funeral for Liang will be held Tuesday. Among those mourning will be a host of FDNY members who have been visiting his parents constantly over the last week.
“When they say the FDNY is a family, we feel that,” Liang’s mother Patty Liang said in Cantonese.
Anyone with information about the hit-and-run can reach out to Lee via email at pang.lee@gmail.com.
Authorities also ask anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.