While police investigate a deadly hit and run late Wednesday night, friends and family of the Good Samaritan killed in the incident are grieving their tragic loss.
Police said a Good Samaritan had pulled over to help a stranded driver in the southbound lanes of the Anthony Henday near 62 Avenue late Wednesday night.
Investigators were called to the scene after 11:30 pm, after the man was struck and killed instantly by a passing vehicle.
Family confirmed the Good Samaritan is 46-year-old Andrew Green, a new Edmontonian who had just moved into the area from Toronto six months ago.
CTV News spoke with Una Green, the victim’s mother, on Thursday – the distraught woman said she was stunned at the news.
“He was helping someone, and there comes someone,” Green said in a phone interview from the Toronto area. “[They] just hit him over and gone, and don’t even stop to see what they hit.”
“I’m numb and that’s probably the best way to describe it,” Friend Teru Skinner said.
Skinner said Green had moved to Edmonton to turn over a new leaf.
“He was just getting over some of the things that were holding him down, and he was going to start a new career, he picked an apprenticeship, he had some interviews set up.”
As for the investigation, police said the man had been placing alert traffic triangles on the shoulder of the freeway behind the broken down vehicle, when he was struck and killed by a passing vehicle, which promptly left the scene.
Meanwhile, police are on the lookout for the vehicle involved – investigators say a large, dark coloured Sport Utility Vehicle fled the scene.
Police said it was last seen travelling west bound on 62 Avenue, and then southbound on 199 Street.
"We don't have much information," Acting Inspector Graham Hogg said Thursday morning. "We only have two witnesses that are pretty shaken up right now.
"With our investigation being at the preliminary stage, we just don't have a lot to go on quite yet."
“Have a look out your window today in your neighbourhood, to see if there are any vehicles parked in your neighbourhood that may have sustained damage to the right side of the vehicle,” Edmonton Police Service spokesperson Scott Pattison said.
Loved ones of the victim are joining in the call.
“Unless they are a sociopath or psychopath and have no emotional feeling, I know they are probably feeling a lot of regret right now,” Skinner said.
“You’ve ruined hundreds of lives with your careless act.”
Traffic investigators are asking anyone who comes across a vehicle with damage to the right bumper, lights, fender and windshield to contact police via the Edmonton Police Service non-emergency line at 780-423-4567.
With files from Sonia Sunger