BALTIMORE, Md. — It’s a common sight outside the Walker Mews Apartments---an ambulance.
After all, it is a senior living complex, and that’s probably why Harold Kelly didn’t pay that much attention last night to all of the commotion going on along York Road.
“I saw lights flashing and I thought it was the regular ambulance and then it was the police, but I didn’t go to my window to investigate what was going on,” said Kelly.
Little did Kelly know that one of his longtime neighbors in the complex, 75-year-old Thomas Bannister had been killed at the intersection of York Road and Gittings Avenue when he was struck by a vehicle in the crosswalk.
A vehicle, which sped away from the scene.
“This morning when I came out to catch the bus, somebody told me, ‘Did you hear about Tom?’ I said. ‘Tom? Was he the one that got hit?’ recalled Kelly. “They said, ‘Yes.’”
A fixture at the complex for decades, residents are mourning Bannister’s death.
“He was one of the original people that first moved in here in Walker Mews,” said Pauline Russell who also lives in the complex. “He was a good man, keeps to himself, really nice, he helps others when they needed help. I’m sorry to hear that was him that passed away.”
Friends say Bannister often shared the story of how he had worked processing meat in upstate New York and Canada until tragedy struck decades ago landing him in Maryland where doctors would save his life.
“He got into an accident,” recounted Kelly. “They sent him from where he was at to Baltimore and they told him, ‘Well, you are in a coma. You’re not going to walk no more.’ He got out of the coma. The doctor said, ‘Well, you’re not going to walk no more.’ He started walking. Walked better than me.”
And now, Kelly’s friend is gone, much like the vehicle, which ran over him, leaving no one to come to his aid in the last moments of his life.
“It’s sad, you know,” said Kelly. “It’s an accident, and then you’re going to do a hit and run. You’ll get a charge. Come on, man. You got to have a heart… got to have a heart.
If you have any information, which could help police, you are asked to call Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7LOCKUP.
