Killed over $40 B’klyn man strangled trying to collect debt
The family of a Brooklyn man who died after he was found unconscious on a Brooklyn rooftop say he was strangled over a $40 debt.
Devastated relatives of Solomon “Sol” Samuel, 48, gathered Sunday at a modest memorial of candles outside Pitkin Appliances on Pitkin Ave. in Brownsville, the family’s 40-year-old neighborhood appliance store. Samuel worked there since he was 17 and lived above the store.
“He was a worker, doing delivery, sales, everything,” said sister Gold Samuel. “He was well loved.”
EMS rushed Samuel (photo) from the roof of NYCHA’s Brownsville Houses on Blake Ave., not far from the store, to Brookdale University Hospital about 11 p.m. on Friday. He died at the hospital.
Cops said Brooks Bailey, a 44-year-old homeless man, was arrested Saturday for murder in the case.
The victim’s family said the city medical examiner told them an autopsy had determined Samuel was strangled.
“The guy owed him money,” Gold said of Bailey. “[Samuel] went to try to get the money from the guy.”
The victim’s family say the suspect owed Samuel $40.
Samuel also struggled with drug addiction, leading to several past hospitalizations.
“My brother was a very nice guy, if you asked him for something he’d give it to you,” Gold said. “Even when my brother was on drugs, he would never ask me for money.”
Samuel was struck with pneumonia at the start of the summer and had to be hospitalized again, but fought through it.
“He wanted to fight for life. He was fighting. And he [the alleged killer] just took it from him. He wanted to live, and you just took that.”
The victim’s brother Mark Samuel said authorities initially “wrote [Solomon Samuel’s death] off” as a possible drug overdose. But Mark said he asked around and learned about the fight over money.
Mark Samuel said he began calling NYPD precincts and he believes his calls helped spur cops to take a closer look at the case.
“The ambulance just wrote it off as a regular drugged person on a roof,” Mark said. “If I didn’t do all the footwork and everything it probably would have been left at that.”
Solomon Samuel’s family blames his addiction for pushing him into harm’s way and into associating with the wrong crowd.
“Hopefully, maybe this can help us get some kind of petition or something to where if you see a family member and you know they’re on drugs and their health is at risk — but they continue to go to drugs — they’re allowed to take them off the streets,” Mark said.
“He’s dead now, not just at the hands of this man, but at the hands of them drugs.”