Leopoldo Hernandez Mourned By Loved Ones After Fatal Borinquen Place Crash Updated January 11, 2012 9:06pm

Leopoldo Hernandez was on his way to work when he was struck by multiple vehicles at 180 Borinquen Place in Brooklyn. (DNAinfo/Sonja Sharp)

By Sarah Tan 

Special to DNAinfo

WILLIAMSBURG — The family and friends of a Brooklyn man fatally struck on his way to work Wednesday morning remembered him as an honest and caring father committed to his job and family.

Leopoldo Hernandez, 57, a maintenance worker at Deepdale Garden Company in Little Neck, Long Island, was on his way to work early Wednesday morning when he was struck twice by two separate vehicles outside 180 Borinquen Place in Williamsburg.

Relatives said Hernandez, originally from the Dominican Republic, had worked as a baker but switched careers about 10 years ago to make more money.

He had just left his home on South Second Street Wednesday when a white 2002 Ford commercial van traveling eastbound slammed into him just after 6 a.m., police said. As he lay on the street, a gray 2005 minivan also hit him, police said.

Hernandez had been walking to meet his co-worker, Rommel Morales, at the corner of Meeker and Union avenues when he was struck, his colleague explained.

Morales, 38, said he had been meeting Hernandez at that spot almost every day for the past six years, and that the two of them would then drive to Long Island together.

But on Wednesday morning, Hernandez didn't show up.

"I called him, but he never answered his phone because he had forgotten it at home. I thought maybe he thought I wasn't going to work today," Morales said, adding that he then left the location. 

As Morales was driving to work, Hernandez's wife, Maricela, called to ask if he had picked up her husband, the victim's colleague said. When Morales said he hadn't seen him, the two thought he had taken the train to work instead.

However, when Morales got to work and still didn't find Hernandez, people started to worry.

"He was such a nice person, we won't forget about him. He was hardworking, honest, helpful. He'd stay for everyone," Morales said.  

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