CORONA, Queens (WABC) — A makeshift memorial was growing Friday morning for one of the victims of a hit-and-run in Queens early New Year’s Day.
Two friends were walking home from a New Year’s Eve celebration when they were struck at 102nd Street and 37th Avenue around 4 a.m. by a speeding white SUV.
Video shows the driver hit the brakes before the vehicle speeds off.
Investigators say 25-year-old Darwin Adrian Malan Cargua was killed.
Angel Daquoelema says his nephew worked in construction and came to New York for a better life and a way to provide for his family.
His family says he worked nonstop to care for his mother and siblings.
Luis Romero was the other victim who was hit and critically injured. Friday is his 25th birthday.
As he remains hospitalized fighting to stay alive, his friends say they are also thinking of his young child.
Both victims are Ecuadorian immigrants.
At a growing memorial, next to the candles struggling to stay lit in the bitter cold and beneath the flowers coated in icicles, is a tin can collecting donations.
But what their families really want is an arrest.
The victim’s uncle says they are also desperately trying to find a way to send his nephew’s body back home to Ecuador.
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