A beloved Bronx retired construction union official died the day he returned home from the hospital — after being struck by a hit-and-run pickup truck driver three days earlier, cops and his longtime girlfriend said Monday.
Kitt “Abdul” Hamilton was struck during his morning walk on May 31, police said. He returned home from the hospital June 3 only to die that day unexpectedly.
“I helped him to the bedroom,” the victim’s live-in girlfriend, Gail Hill, said of his return home. “He sat on the bed and he laid back and he started gasping for air. And I said, ‘Abdul what’s wrong? You can’t breathe?’ And he couldn’t speak. We hadn’t been in the house a good 30 minutes.”
She called 911 and soon her home was flooded with EMS workers.
“They were very, very diligent in trying to revive him but they couldn’t bring him back,” said Hill, who had been with the victim for 28 years. “He was the most loving, caring person I ever came into contact with.”
After Hamilton’s death, Hill learned from the coroner’s report he had blood clots in his leg and chest, she said.
Hamilton’s morning walk had become part of his daily routine since his retirement two years ago from the Construction & General Building Laborers’ Local 79, where he was a shop steward and had worked for more than 40 years.
He was about half a mile from home when he was struck crossing E. 183rd St. at Jerome Ave. in Fordham at 5:40 a.m.
The driver of the 2022 Ford F-250 pickup truck then sideswiped an unoccupied FDNY truck parked outside EMS Station 19 and fled the scene, police said.
“It was on our granddaughter’s birthday,” Hill recalled. “I was in the house with my grandson and granddaughter and we were sleeping and the phone was ringing and ringing. And finally I said, ‘Something’s wrong. Let me get up and answer the phone.’ And it was him. He said, ‘Honey, I’m in St. Barnabas Hospital.'”
Hamilton was taken there in stable condition by medics and later discharged, NYPD officials said.
Hill said Hamilton suffered four fractured ribs and bruises on his elbows, knees and legs. She was surprised when he was discharged.
“I asked the nurse, ‘Is he ready to go home?'” Hill said. “And she said, ‘Oh yeah, he passed all the tests.’ And Abdul didn’t like hospitals. He was kind of anxious to get out of there anyway. Abdul was saying he feels OK and is doing better — and I was thinking he wasn’t ready to go home. He passed that same day he was discharged.”
Hamilton grew up in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and was called Abdul or “Big Ab” by friends and family.
“He was a very, very valuable member to the community,” Hill said. “He always helped people get jobs. He was very caring and compassionate to the alcoholics in the neighborhood. He would get them off the street and get them something to eat.”
“Him and I often gave many barbecues every year and Abdul would look to feed everyone in the neighborhood,” she added. “We would spend about $1,000 for these barbecues. I would tease him and say. ‘You are the mayor of this community.’ He was a very loving person. Everywhere we went, someone knew him.”
Police say they have identified the hit-and-run driver, a 25-year-old man, but have not yet filed charges as they continue their investigation. Hill said an arrest would provide some comfort.
“I do hope someone is brought to justice for this because hit-and-runs are fatalities that really harm our communities,” she said. “I’m glad this is coming to light — because I often think there’s things that happen to people in the community that is gone and forgotten.”
“In my entire lifetime, I never met anyone like Abdul,” she added. “Abdul loved the world. Everywhere we went there was someone who knew Abdul. Abdul was the best and I just miss him so very much.”