NYC U-Haul rampage crash victim was GrubHub worker, single dad of 3: ‘Very sad about the loss’
A Brooklyn man who died after a demented U-Haul driver mowed him down during a high-speed motor vehicle rampage was a hardworking father raising three teenagers on his own, his family said Tuesday.
A day after YiJie Ye died from injuries he suffered during Monday’s moving van mayhem, friends and family members described him as a dedicated dad, doing whatever it took to provide for his kids.
Ye’s cousin, Mike Chen, said detectives told him Ye had been killed in a car accident.
A few hours passed before Chen and his family put the pieces together.
“Later we found out he was one of the victims from the U-Haul,” Chen said, still shocked Tuesday, a day after 44-year-old single dad was mowed down.
Nine people including a police officer were struck by the demented U-Haul driver who went on a road rampage Monday through the streets of Brooklyn. Ye was the only victim to not survive.
Investigators are trying to piece together the puzzle of what made Weng Sor flip out and barrel through Bay Ridge with a U-Haul battering ram.
Ye’s relatives have their own tasks to tend to — explaining the tragedy to Ye’s young children, and getting his grieving mother from China to the U.S.
“The kids are staying with an aunt in Chinatown,” said Chen, who is the owner of the building where his cousin lived. “They are very sad about the loss of their dad but they are safe.”
Ye has been living in the building since he divorced his wife about five years ago. He was the father of three teens, twin boys and a girl.
“Everything happened so immediately,” Chen said. “In the coming few days we will reach out to the wife to see if she wants to take care of the kids or pass the guardianship to her sister-in-law.”
“We haven’t gotten a chance to talk to the ex-wife yet because right now there are so many things we need to take care of and the kids are our number one priority,” he added.
Number two on the list is getting Ye’s mother over from China. He said the mayor’s office has offered assistance to work out the details
“At the moment, they are working with us to get the visa approved for his mother who is in China right now,” said another cousin, Tim Chen. “Hopefully she can join the grandkids as soon as possible.”
Jessy Chen, Mike Chen’s wife, described the cousin as a hard-working loving and dedicated father who had taken a job with GrubHub to support his family.
“As you can imagine, with three kids, he always tried to put in time to work as much as possible. In my mind, he’s always working,” she said.
When he wasn’t working, Jessy Chen said, he was home with his children.
“They spent a lot of time at home. Because with three kids it’s a lot. He stayed home as much as possible. They go to the park often. Usually, it’s just the four of them,” she said. Ye has had sole custody since his divorce, she said.
“He was a very good dad,” said neighbor Peter Chuc. “Last time I went down there he was cooking for the kids and they were playing around. Sometimes he used to go collect cans after work. Very hardworking guy.”
Officials said Ye suffered blunt force trauma to the body and head when he was struck by the truck at Fort Hamilton and Bay Ridge Parkway. He was rushed to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, where he later died.
It was unclear if Ye, who charged his electric bike outside his home, was working at the time he was struck but his family is almost certain he was.
Other victims include Mohamed Abdelmagid, 67, seen in a dramatic video in a blue jacket diving out of the way when the U-Haul mounted a sidewalk with police in hot pursuit. He was expected to be released from the hospital Tuesday afternoon.
Abdelmagid was about to walk into his job at a car service when he was injured on 72nd St. and Third Ave.
“He’d seen the truck jump the curb and he tried to get out of the way,” said his son, Omar Ali, 23,. “His coworkers ran out and tried to help him.”
He said his father’s leg, wrist and rib area are bruised and swollen.
“The impact from the concrete,” Ali said.
It took a while for the family to sort out what happened to his father.
“My mom called me from work,” said Ali. “She told me, Hey, what’s going on in Bay Ridge? So I looked into it. I’m like, oh, there’s this guy in a U-Haul going on a rampage.”
The family lives in the area so the mother and son started to call around to make sure everyone was safe.
“We’re calling everybody checking up but he wasn’t answering,” said Ali. “My mom found out from another relative that he was the one in the blue jacket.”
Also injured during the mayhem was Mohammed Salah Rakchi 36, who was struck by the truck at 54th Street and 4th Avenue. He suffered head trauma, rib fractures and leg fractures, his family said. Doctors induced a coma.
“Friends called me and said ‘your husband had an accident but he is looking well,” said Rakchi’s wife, Nadjet Tchenar. “But when I went to the hospital I saw him in really critical condition.”
She said their children, a 7-year-old daughter, and a 3-year-old son, don’t understand.
The family’s attorney, Derek Sells, said he was concerned about the conduct of police who were trying to apprehend the driver.
“One of the things that we’re going to be looking at in terms of how this tragedy occurred is the conduct of the NYPD,” Sells said. “And we’re going to be looking at their vehicle pursuit policies to see whether or not what they did was in accordance with their actual policies.”
