A special Thanksgiving dinner for people with no friends or family ended with one of the elderly guests being 'mangled' in a hit-and-run.
The 71-year-old victim was walking home after dinner in Queens just before 7 p.m. when a van runs a stop sign and hits him as he's crossing the road at Murray Street and 17th Road.
Surveillance footage shows the van doesn't stop for a second to help. Instead, its elderly victim lies bleeding in the street, critically injured.
Neighbor Joe Conforti said the incident was terrible to watch.
"He was lying on the floor, he was bleeding, his legs were all mangled."
The owner of the van allegedly ditched the vehicle nearby and fled, but police said they caught up with him the next day, when he came back to the scene to collect his wallet from the van.
"Obviously he figured he has hit this person, he ran away and said, 'let me go get the evidence', and came back to get his wallet," Conforti said.
Local
The suspect has been identified as 52-year-old Carmine Minichino. He's facing charges of DWI, leaving the scene and driving without a valid license.
The 71-year-old victim was still listed in a critical condition Friday evening.
