Neighbor, 70, busted 6 mos. after hit-run that killed deli man
A Brooklyn senior citizen was arrested Tuesday for the hit-and-run death of a revered local bodega worker left to die six months ago on a sidewalk only a few blocks from home, authorities said.
Brierly Collymore, 70, is charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident and refusing to show his driver’s license, police said.
Victim Ali Alshawesh, 65, was walking home from his shift at the Ave. L Superette, owned by a relative, when he was struck by a gray Nissan Pathfinder driver making a wide turn just before midnight on Sept. 4, officials said.
The driver sped away from the scene, at Avenue M and E. 91st St. in Canarsie, but slammed into a parked vehicle before abandoning the Pathfinder about a half mile away.
Alshawesh’s still grief-stricken relatives were relieved to hear the news of a suspect in custody.
“Everybody is holding up,” the victim’s brother-in-law Jaber Almugannahi told the Daily News by phone Tuesday. “Nothing we can do to bring him back. It is what it is. I’m going to inform his daughters that there’s been an arrest. They have no idea yet.”
“It’s gonna bring a lot of comfort,” he added. “But it’s not going to make any difference, not going to bring him back. A little closure to what happened.”
Collymore lives just a block from the scene of the crash, according to cops.
Alshawesh was a Yemeni immigrant who routinely worked 12-hour shifts at the family-owned business. He was heading home from the bodega when killed.
The father of five and grandfather to more than 30, died at Brookdale University Hospital shortly after the 11:30 p.m. crash, police said.
“He was a man supporting his family,” the victim’s nephew told The News at the time of the fatal incident. “[The driver] took him away from us. Like a piece of trash, left him to die. Didn’t have the heart to wait.”
Family members said Alshawesh’s first wife died in 2012 and his second wife was living with their daughter in their homeland.
According to the victim’s son Salem, the last thing his father did before the fatal crash was leave a voice mail donation for an Egyptian man’s medical treatment.