A boy died a day after his 13th birthday after pushing his sister out of harm's way when a car came suddenly from behind, NBC 4 reports.
Tyler Phillips, of Medford, New York, was struck by a gray SUV after he saved his sister Krystal Randolph, who is also 13, from the same tragic fate.
The siblings had been walking from Gordon Heights Children's Park to the shelter where they were living in Coram on Wednesday, October 12. They were on a bicycle lane as there were no sidewalks.
At 7:30PM, while they were still making their way back, Tyler was hit from behind by a car on Granny Road, which authorities believe to be a dark-colored Chevrolet Equinox manufactured between 2005 and 2009. He died from his injuries three days later.
Krystal told NBC 4 that the vehicle had no lights on, despite it being dark outside.
"They tried to resuscitate him and he was gone for 30 minutes," Desari Mac, Tyler's mother told the outlet, recounting how first responders tried to save her son.
"His vertebrate and his skull got separated, and he's got no brain function," she added, as she described the state he was in at Stony Brook University Hospital. "He's gone."
Krystal, who sustained minor injuries, is grieving the loss of her brother, who she hailed as a "hero".
"He saved my life," she told the local outlet. "He was a hero. He will always be a hero."
Krystal recalled how the impact of the accident sent her brother flying.
A family friend named Steffani Campbell witnessed the moment the car "hit [Krystal] first and I guess [Tyler] went to jump and grab her, and it just took him," telling NBC 4 that she "watched him fly to the middle of the street" before calling the ambulance and carrying out CPR.
Police said the headlights, front passenger mirror and sideview front passenger mirror of the car involved in the incident had sustained damage.
Officials are offering up to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest of the driver, who left the young boy for dead after striking him.
The teenager's funeral will be held on Friday at the Mangano Family Funeral Home in Middle Island. Tyler is survived by his mother, father, Joseph Phillips, and four siblings.