Holly MatkinBronx, NY – New York City Department of Correction Officer Richard Lue died at a local hospital on Saturday due to injuries he suffered during a multi-vehicle collision on Feb. 11.
Corrections Officer Lue, 22, was driving home from work on the Cross Bronx Expressway at approximately 1:15 a.m. when the crash occurred, the New York Daily News reported.
As he neared Webster Avenue, a 24-year-old woman driving a 2015 Mercedes Benz slammed into the back of a 2012 GMC in the eastbound lanes, according to the New York Daily News.
Jaquan Cesar, a 28-year-old dialysis technician, witnessed the crash and pulled over to help the injured Mercedes driver.
But soon after he got out of his vehicle, a BMW slammed into him, catapulting him over a concrete barrier and into the path of an oncoming vehicle.
The vehicle that struck Cesar fled the area, and the good Samaritan died at the scene.
The BMW that collided with Cesar then crashed into Correction Officer Lue’s Honda, which caused the Honda to collide with a tractor-trailer.
The driver of the tractor-trailer also fled the scene, and the driver has not been located.
Correction Officer Lue was transported to St. Barnabas Hospital, and succumbed to his injuries five days later.
In a press release on Saturday, Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association (COBA) President Elias Husamudeen referred to Correction Officer Lue as “one of the best of NYC’s Boldest.”
“He was well liked by his fellow officers and just beginning a very promising career with the New York City Department of Correction,” Husamudeen said. “His light will shine forever in our hearts.”
Correction Officer Lue was assigned to the Robert N. Davoren Complex (RNDC) at Rikers Island, where he served for less than a year.
His mother, Sharon Mullings, said that Correction Officer Lue “loved” his job at the prison.
“I’d tell people he was working there and people would say, ‘I’m so sorry,’” Mullings told the New York Daily News. “I said, ‘Don’t be sorry! He loves his job.’ He said to me, ‘I love this job!’”
“He said inmates poured their hearts out to him,” she added. “He played basketball with them, played dominoes with them. He said inmates would sit down many times and tell them their stories.”
Mullings said that Correction Officer Lue was a “very loving, caring son,” and that he always kissed her on the forehead when he came home from work.
“He’s going to be missed in such a way words can’t express,” she said.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of New York City Department of Correction Officer Richard Lue, both blood and blue. Thank you for your service.
Rest easy, hero. We’ll hold the line from here.