NYC Rollerblader With Dreams of Becoming Doctor Killed in Hit-and-Run

A Brooklyn, N.Y., 21-year-old who had dreams of becoming a doctor was killed Saturday by an alleged hit-and-run driver in the New York City borough.

Michael Joefield was a premed student at Medgar Evers College and worked as a florist in his spare time, his girlfriend said, according to the New York Post.

“He was a very good kid,” Alexis Parker, 22, said. “He liked Rollerblading—so he died doing what he loved.”

Joefield was skating in Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood when authorities say he was hit by driver Terrance Smith, 37.

Smith had been arguing with a passenger before he hit Joefield and then continued driving, slamming into other vehicles and injuring seven other people, authorities say. He then left his car and fled the scene before authorities caught up with him several blocks away, according to officials.

“How could you run from that?” Parker’s mother, Debbie, told the Post. “You know you’re in trouble—running just makes things worse. I’d feel so guilty.”

Debbie Parker told the Post that Joefield had been studying hard to become a doctor to follow in the footsteps of his mother, who is a nurse.

Joefield’s aunt told the Post that the young man’s mother was overcome with the loss of her son.

“Michael was a very good kid. He never gave his mother any trouble. He was in college. This is a tragic loss. She is taking this very hard,” said the aunt, who did not wish to be identified.

Joefield’s mom told the New York Daily News that the family desired privacy during what is a difficult time.

“I haven’t seen his body or anything. He was in college, his second year, Medgar Evers, studying biology. Right now, the family wants privacy. We don’t know much, what happened,” Joefield’s mother, who also declined to be identified, told the Daily News.

Smith is facing charges of driving with impaired ability and leaving the scene of an accident.

Read more at the New York Post and the New York Daily News.