Officials have identified the first local hit-and-run victim of the year.
Witnesses said that the man was crossing City Avenue near Presidential Boulevard early Tuesday morning when a car going northbound towards the Schuylkill Expressway eastbound entrance knocked him about 40 feet down the roadway.
Credit: Family Photo
A medical student jumped out of another car and tried to administer CPR but it was too late. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. On Tuesday afternoon, officials identified the victim as 50-year-old Patrick Coyle.
A witness who heard the crash described the scene.
"As soon as we heard the impact... we pulled over and see the man lying on the [street] and as soon as we came out of the car, all of us, trying to see who it is and she came up very soon giving him CPR," said cab driver Sheikh Kamaluddin.
While there is no crosswalk where Coyle was hit, there is a pedestrian bridge that he wasn't using.
Police continued to investigate the scene throughout the overnight hours as the City Avenue Bridge toward I-76, Route 1, Kelly Drive, Lincoln Drive and Ridge Avenue remained closed until about 5 a.m. Investigators wouldn't rule out alcohol as being involved in the wreck.
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The only description given of the car was that it was a four-door silver sedan and head off towards the Schuylkill Expressway or Route 1.
Coyle, his girlfriend and their 13-year-old son lived in the Presidential City apartments, just feet from where he was killed. He worked as the new maintenance man.
"He was such a great guy," said Coyle's girlfriend, Joy Zasowski. "He'd do anything for anybody. The person didn't even stop. He took his father away from him. He took my best friend away."
Coyle grew up in a large Philadelphia family. His father passed away two weeks ago.
There were at least two other crashes in the city in the early hours of 2013 as a car hit a tree at Gypsy Lane and Lincoln Drive and a crash at Mascher Street and Tabor Road in Northeast Philly left five hurt. Alcohol is suspected in each of those crashes.
