By Spencer Davis
Around 100 people gathered for a candlelight vigil at West 109th Street and Amsterdam Avenue Sunday night to mourn the loss of Jason Negron and Michael Saint-Hilaire, the two pedestrians police say were killed by a drunk driver Friday evening.
Negron, 46, was a doorman at the nearby 545 West 110th Street apartment building and is survived by his wife and two daughters; Saint-Hilaire, 35, was the father of triplets. Those who attended the vigil lit candles, shared memories of the two men, and released white balloons into the sky around the intersection where they died Friday evening.
According to police, the driver, Elvin Suarez, lost control of his Mercedes-Benz SUV and struck multiple pedestrians on the sidewalk sitting outside of an Upper West Side barbershop. Three other men hit by the driver were also hospitalized.
On Sunday, the tree outside the barbershop was covered with photos of Negron and Saint-Hilaire and with flags from the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. The tree was also outfitted with QR codes linked to GoFundMe pages to support Saint-Hilaire’s and Negron’s families, which had raised over $10,000 and $45,000, respectively, as of Monday afternoon.
The sidewalk below the tree was covered with bouquets of flowers and candles to memorialize Negron and Saint-Hilaire. Their first names—Michael and Jason—were written on the sidewalk in chalk and surrounded by candles.
Mike Weiss, a retired Long Island high school teacher and Columbia University graduate, came across the vigil after reading an article about the accident online.
“I can offer these people some support and let them know that there are people thinking about them who maybe aren’t really directly involved in the neighborhood anymore,” Weiss said.
“This vigil shows how people can come together on their own,” said George, who lives nearby but declined to share his last name. “No one designed that, but people made it together, and it is so beautiful and so powerful. No one bought that in the store. That was just made by a community.”
The vigil began with Christian prayers recited in Spanish. Shortly thereafter, white balloons were handed out, and attendees walked out onto the street to release them into the sky. People dispersed and shared memories with one another until a woman gathered everyone around the memorial and gave a speech to the crowd.
“It’s very sad; very sad what has happened,” the woman said in Spanish. But she urged the crowd to have faith. “God gives you life and [God] takes it away. … We do not question what God says.”
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I hope I live long enough to see how bad it needs to get before admissions are made and changes implemented.