Man killed in hit-&-run

Father’s Day tragedy in Bx.

A Bronx man trying to hail a cab home from a Father’s Day celebration with friends was killed early Sunday by a hit-and-run driver, family and police said.

Christopher Nieves, 37, was crossing Bruckner Blvd. near Austin Place in Longwood just after 6 a.m. when two of his buddies noticed an SUV speeding down the road, relatives said.

The friends tried to pull Nieves back from the tan Chevy Tahoe’s path, but they were too late. The driver slammed into the victim and the SUV sped off. Nieves was rushed to Lincoln Medical Center, where he died, cops said.

“I can’t believe it. I think it’s a dream, it’s not true. I still think I can wake up from this,” the man’s mother, Sara Pinto, cried Sunday as she placed flowers at a makeshift memorial outside the Concourse Village home she shared with her son.

Nieves, a construction worker and aspiring rapper, had gone to the house party on Saturday so he could spend the actual Father’s Day having dinner with his mother and two siblings, a yearly tradition.

He left the house around 5 p.m. to get a haircut and a suit for Sunday’s family meal, his devastated mother said, but he never made it back home.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do. He’s my life, he’s my baby, we were always together,” Pinto said.

Nieves, nicknamed “Twinkie,” was a generous soul who was quick to help anyone in need.

“If you need anything, he got you,” his brother, Anthony Nieves, 38, said. “Even people on the street, anyone on the block — if you’re hungry, he’d let you upstairs.”

The slain father was planning to mail a PlayStation to his 7-year-old son Sunday evening, as a Father’s Day gift.

“His son meant the world to him. That’s all he had. He was a good guy, a family guy,”said Benny Rosado, the victim’s 14-year-old nephew. “We are going through a rough time.”

Nieves’ relatives have not yet told the child, who lives with his mother in Alabama, about his father’s death.

“He cared about everybody,” said sister-in-law Keila Nieves, 23. “He was the one person who was always strong. We just never thought this could happen.”

Police are still searching for the hitand-run driver.

“He was like my brother. Right now, my mind is everywhere. He was such a good guy,” childhood friend Ana Candelario, 42, said through sobs. “He was crossing the street and they hit him and dragged him. We just want to find the (person) who hit him.”