Good Samaritan killed by hit and run driver and pedestrian killed by truck the same day in NYC

A man who stopped to help a stranger died after being struck by a hit and run driver in Queens, NYC. Last Friday night around 8:30 pm, 51 year old Mike Agurkis was driving his car on the Nassau Expressway in Springfield Gardens when he saw a motorist stranded along the side of the highway. The good Samaritan pulled in front of the stranger got out of his car and offered to help him.

As he was standing in between the two cars stopped on the side of the highway, the driver of a blue minivan hit the vehicle of the stranded driver which in a chain reaction slammed into Mike and killed him. The driver of the blue minivan abandoned the blue van and ran away on foot. The police are still looking for him.

Mike Agurkis’s children and his ex-wife are heartbroken. They told journalists that that’s how their dad was. He would always stop to help people. Mike’s landlord and a neighbor also confirmed that Mike lived his life to help people.

“Not too many people nowadays would stop over on the side of the road and help a total stranger, but that’s the type of person my father was. He would always stop and help everyone, and he was a great man and he’ll be missed very much,” said Tommy Agurkis, his son.

The children are pleading for the driver to turn himself in. “Do the right thing, just turn yourself in. If it was an accident, it was an accident. Do the right thing,” said the daughter Amanda.  (Read more here)

The same day but in the morning, a 53 year old pedestrian was fatally struck by a Con Ed truck in Staten Island. Miao Ling Kuan was crossing Narrows Road in Staten Island when the truck driver made a left turn and hit her. The driver stayed at the scene of the accident. So far he has not been charged. (Read more here.)