A Bedford-Stuyvesant block is mourning a beloved neighbor who was mowed down Saturday by an alleged drunken driver.
"He did anything he could for everybody," said Aisha Pearson, Floyd Hooper's daughter. "He was a fixture on this block. I don't even want to be on this block because he's not here anymore."
Hooper was repairing a double-parked vehicle on Patchen Avenue across from his mechanic shop when a driver ran into him around 9:29 p.m. According to witnesses, the 52-year-old victim was thrown 20 feet and the driver fled. Neighbors then chased that car.
Police said the 38-year-old driver struck another vehicle three blocks away before being arrested. She's charged with vehicular assault, DWI and operating a vehicle without a license.
"We had to protect her because the community found out she hit Floyd so they were trying to attack her," said the Rev. George Williams, who was Hooper's friend. "There isn't a car in this neighborhood he hasn't worked on. There isn't a family in this neighborhood he hasn't helped in some way."
Hooper was taken to Kings County Hospital, where he later died.