A 68-year-old man named Trevor Samuels died Friday after being hit by a moped rider while crossing the street in a marked crosswalk in Jamaica, Queens. Police say the crash occurred at the intersection of 93rd Avenue and 168th Street. The driver of the moped, 26-year-old Yunior Rodriguez Buleje, stayed at the scene and was arrested for aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.
Samuels suffered head trauma in the collision. He was transported to Jamaica Hospital, where he later died. His oldest daughter, Kivette Samuels, described the moment police came to deliver the news, recalling screaming and refusing to believe it at first.
“Yelling, screaming. ‘It’s not true. Are you serious? Oh my God,'” she said. “It took away something that cannot be replaced.”
Samuels’ daughter said her father had been out shopping for gifts at the time of the crash. He had planned to fly back to his native Jamaica in the coming week to visit family he had not seen in three years.
“Glad that there was an arrest, but it still doesn’t bring him back. And it was senseless,” his daughter said. “It was senseless. You took him away. He was about to go home.”
Those who knew Samuels remember him as a thoughtful, intelligent man with a great memory. Before coming to the United States, he spent many years working as a correctional officer in Jamaica. In the U.S., he had been working as a home health aide. Friends and neighbors described him as kind and dependable.
The tragic event has left a deep sadness over his family, especially with the holidays approaching. “My Christmases will never be the same because every time December rolls around, it’s going to always be a permanent memory,” his daughter said.
Now, the family and community are left to grieve the loss. Samuels leaves behind five children and five grandchildren. His family is also trying to raise money to bring his body back to Jamaica so that his other children, including a 17-year-old daughter, can say goodbye.
