He walked home the way he always did — but this time, he never made it

On Sunday night, Dominic Brown did something he had done many times before. After trying unsuccessfully to find a ride, he decided to walk home.

“He did it all the time,” his cousin Alicetine Johnson said quietly. “We had just spent the day together with my daughter and the cousins. I had just spoken to him.”

But this walk would be his last.

The 48-year-old father was struck by a vehicle on Robinson Road. Instead of stopping, the driver sped away, leaving Dominic lying injured in the middle of the road. A passerby, moved by what they saw, stopped to help. He picked up Dominic’s phone and dialed the last number he had called to alert his family.

“I thanked the person that did that. God bless them,” Johnson said. “A vehicle hit him and chose to drive away. They didn’t stop to help him or call 911.”

Dominic died in the hospital Monday night from severe spinal injuries and brain hemorrhaging. Doctors had warned the family to expect the worst.

To those who knew him, Dominic was gentle and grounded.

“He was very humble. He had a great personality,” Johnson said. “He was kind, mannerly, and loved by everyone who knew him, especially his family.”

A handyman who worked in construction alongside his brother and formerly at The Punch, Dominic was known for his quiet humor and his devotion to family. He was especially close to his mother before her passing three years ago.

“He was a mother’s boy. They were very, very close.”

Now, his siblings are grappling with the weight of losing him so suddenly. One of his daughters, who is off-island, has yet to fully process the horrific news that her father was killed in a hit-and-run.

“This broke me,” Johnson said. “He didn’t deserve to die like that.”

Through anger and grief, she issued a plea to the driver who fled the scene, “Have a conscience and turn yourself in. Our family needs answers.”