His charitable heart got him killed.
Long Island do-gooder Dionel Ramirez left his car outside a 7-Eleven as he dropped in to collect surplus food for a soup kitchen on Friday – but a car-jacker jumped in the idling vehicle and fatally ran him over, cops said.
Dionel Ramirez
"Mr. Ramirez attempted to get in front of the car to stop this person," Suffolk County Police Detective Lt. Kevin Beyrer told reporters at the scene in North Bay Shore. "The person ran him over and killed him."
Ramirez, 69, went to the store on Pine Aire Drive at around 5:45 a.m. as part of his post-Thanksgiving rounds to collect perishable items for the needy.
He left the driver's-side door of his Hyundai open with the engine running as he went inside, cops said.
Ramirez had poured himself a cup of coffee and was waiting to pick up donated food when he saw the thief slip into the driver's seat.
He ran back out to the parking lot and tried to block the thief's escape by standing in the car's path.
But the man ran over Ramirez with the front and back tires and took off.
"He came in and got a cup of coffee, and then the guy got in his car," said one employee, who declined to give his name. "He ran outside to try and stop him, but he got run over, and the man left in his car."
The employee said police took the store's security video to identify the killer.
Ramirez's car was found abandoned Friday afternoon, although police would not disclose where.
Relatives at Ramirez's North Amityville home said he always went out of his way to help people.
"It's just crazy what happened," daughter Michelle told 1010-WINS. "I thought it was just going to be another normal day, especially after Thanksgiving."
"He came from a country that was poor. He wants to give back to the people that are less fortunate," she said, adding the Guatemalan immigrant often collected food for the homeless.
The killer was still being hunted Friday evening.
Additional reporting by Erin Calabrese and Daniel Prendergast
Source : http://nypost.com/2014/11/28/do-gooder-for-homeless-killed-in-carjacking/
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