NEW BRITAIN -- Loved ones of a New Britain man who was killed in a hit and run accident last weekend said their final goodbyes Saturday night.
It has been exactly one week since 64-year-old Angel Colon was hit and killed here on Allen street in New Britain.
New Britain police say 22-year-old Jonathan Soto mowed Colon down in his 2000 Toyota Avalon before fleeing the scene, according to court documents.
“They told me to be calm relax,” said Colon’s sister Hilda Jusino. “He was in an accident.”
“That really shocked me when I heard that he died in the hospital,” said Colon’s nephew Jacob Viruet. “I felt sad.”
Colon’s family and friends held a vigil in the exact spot where he took his last breaths to honor his life Saturday. The vigil came two days after Colon’s family laid him to rest.
“He always gives me hugs and kisses,” said Colon’s niece, Leyla Viruet. “And I’m always going to miss him not seeing him around.”
Surveillance video shows Colon walking on the street just moments before he was hit.
Court documents also reveal Soto’s reaction after hitting Colon in which a friend in the car with Soto at the time describes him as crying and saying, “I didn’t see him.”
The defendant’s stepfather, Edwin Ruiz, said he knew the victim.
““We used to live on Allen street so I used to see him all the time,” Ruiz said.
Ruiz said the tragedy is heartbreaking for everyone.
“He’s hurt too you know what I mean,” Ruiz said. “He killed someone. So the whole family is hurting, the other side is hurting. Everyone’s hurting right now.”
“We both are suffering,” said Colon’s brother, Raymond Colon. “Both families at the same time. The Soto family and us.”
Jusino said her brother suffered from a mental and medical disability.
“I think that made him more special to us because of his situation,” Jusino said.
Jusino said her brother, who was also affectionately known as Kiki, was always walking around the city, which is how so many people grew found of him.
He was doing what he loved, walking, when he was killed.
“Always walking, always walking,” Jusio said.
The driver who killed Colon is also charged with evading responsibility in operation of motor vehicle and illegal operation of motor vehicle without minimal insurance.