A 99-year-old Holocaust survivor in a wheelchair was fatally hit by a BMW X5 SUV in Brooklyn on Shabbat, The Daily News reported Sunday (Holocaust survivor on his way to Brooklyn synagogue in wheelchair fatally struck by BMW). The man, Jack Mikulincer, was on his way to his shul, Manhattan Beach Jewish Center, where he was the gabbai. He was hit crossing Coleridge Street at Oriental Boulevard around 4:45 PM.
Jehuda Lindenblatt, 85, also a Holocaust survivor, told the DN that he was next to the victim when it happened. “I heard a bang and I see him fly and then he landed.”
Both men attended shul together on Friday nights and Shabbat days and went together regularly.
Mikulincer was rushed to Coney Island Hospital where he was declared dead. “He died instantly,” Lindenblatt told the DN. “The doctor told me at the hospital in Coney Island he didn’t have pain.”
The driver of the BMW, 52, did not flee the scene and so far has not been charged, according to the DN. “The guy probably didn’t see him,” Lindenblatt said.
Mikulincer’s daughter, Aviva, who lives in East Orange, NJ, was contacted by her sister right after the accident. Mikulincer named his Bakery on Brighton Second St. in Brighton Beach the Aviva Bakery.
Aviva’s mother was on her way to a Chanukah party in Queens some 30 years ago, when the car where she was a passenger was crashed by another car. Mikulincer had to give up his bakery and devoted his time to taking care of his wife. She died in 2011 after suffering for years from the crash.
