Staten Island man searching for hit-run driver who slammed car, good Samaritan who helped

New York’s Staten Island. Nicky Legakis, 57, of Oakwood, and his teenage grandson started their Friday school drop-off as usual.

At before 8:15 a.m., Legakis felt a sharp shock from the back of his car on Arlene Street after he and his grandson had just left the student drop-off area at Moore Catholic High School in Graniteville.

“I got slammed from the back when I was watching my grandson, who attends Moore Catholic High School, get out of the car,” the victim recalled.

The next memory Legakis has of being dazed and disoriented is the gentle touch of a woman’s hand on his cheek. “Hello, are you okay?” she inquired, giving him a gentle face pat.

“Do you think I’m okay?” I ask. Legakis recalled. My left side hurts, so my first instinct when I saw her was to call 911. I didn’t even get a chance to thank her before she left as I turned back after contacting 911.

The rear end of Legakis’ car was damaged. Legakis has had to go to physical treatment as a result of the accident, and he is thinking about hiring a lawyer to help him with the lawsuit. (Thanks to Nicky Legakis.)Legakis, Nicky

Police and emergency medical personnel arrived at the scene, Legakis said. Legakis chose to go to an urgent care center later to get medical help, even though he was a pharmacist.

The driver stated that there was debris from the escaping car, a black BMW SUV, all over the road.

Legakis brought bits of the wreckage home as proof, saying, “They hit my car as hard as they could from the rear and then sped off.” The fragments were scattered across the road, suggesting that they had driven off in a rather damaged vehicle.

According to Legakis, the BMW SUV was last spotted traveling down Arlene Street from Lambert’s Lane toward Merrill Avenue.

On the morning of Friday, January 17, a 57-year-old father was hit and run when he was dropping off his grandson at school. Legakis was in the rear of an FDNY ambulance when the paramedics were examining him for injuries, as seen in the photo above. (Thanks to Nicky Legakis.)Legakis, Nicky

The victim claims that while some neighbors who were on the other side of the street when the incident occurred on January 17 assisted the police, others chose not to participate.

“When you have this sudden impact, it’s a second, but it seems like it’s so much longer,” Legakis said, still reeling from the shock of being hit-and-run.

Legakis is now offering a $500 reward to anyone who can help police identify the driver of the vehicle that struck his vehicle.

Additionally, Legakis is offering an extra $100 to anyone who can assist him in locating the Good Samaritan who provided him with assistance.

Legakis, who is awaiting a visit to the body shop to evaluate the damage to his car, said police are still looking into the collision. Legakis’ automobile was hauled back to his home by the NYPD.

The probe was not immediately confirmed by the Deputy Commissioner of Public Communication for the NYPD. Nonetheless, Legakis gave Advance/SILive.com crash images showing NYPD police gaining access to the wreckage and damage at the scene.

Legakis is hoping the driver will be found and made to answer for their crimes.

Call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or, in Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782) if you have any information about this incident. Additionally, the public can provide tips by visiting X @NYPDTips or the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/. Every call is kept completely private.

Please send an email to [email protected] if you know or are the woman that stopped to assist Legakis.

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