A Holocaust survivor in New York was hit by a well-known Russian-speaking businessman

The driver who fatally hit a 99-year-old Holocaust survivor as he crossed a Brooklyn street in a wheelchair on his way to a synagogue turned out to be a well-known Russian-speaking real estate developer. NY Daily News citing police sources.

Pyotr Yadgarov, 52, was driving his luxury 5 BMW X2020 SUV west along East Boulevard in Manhattan Beach around 16:45 p.m. on February 5. He shot down Jack Mikulinzeras he crossed Coleridge Street near his home on his way to the Sabbath service at the synagogue.

Yadgarov has not yet been charged. According to sources, the police do not know how fast the car was moving at the time of Mikulintser's death and how exactly the accident occurred.

The license plate has many reported violations

BMW license plate shows the car had six last year fines for speeding in school zones. The license plate also has 10 speed camera tickets and 4 red light tickets since June 2016.

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There are no traffic lights or a pedestrian crossing at the intersection that Mikulintser crossed when he was killed. Family and friends of the victim, a Holocaust survivor, say he regularly crossed the street on his way to the synagogue.

As the Technotrenz, Yadgarov is the president of PYE Properties, a Coney Island firm that "acquires distressed, vacant properties and building lots with potential for growth in value," according to the company's website. Such properties include the former Shore Theater at 271 Brighton Beach Avenue and Bath & Twenty at 8746 20th Avenue. However, Yadgarov is practically unknown outside the firm.

The developer lives in a mansion on Ocean Avenue four blocks from where Mikulinzer was killed. On the evening of February 7, Yadgarov was not at home and his BMW was not in the driveway.

MEAWW was unable to locate any PYE or Yadgarov social media accounts. Apparently, Yadgarov is barely mentioned online, except for a few comments on press articles about PYE's reconstruction of the Shore Theater. Yadgarov bought the abandoned lot for $14 million in December 2015, according to the Brooklyn Eagle in 2017. According to 2020 reports, the site is expected to be converted into a "luxury boutique hotel" with retail space by the third quarter of 2023.

The mayor of New York tweeted about the tragedy

Mikulinzer was originally from Hungary, and according to reports, he even served in the army when the war broke out in Europe. He then fled and joined the Russian army. “When the war ended, he returned to Czechoslovakia, got married, and then went to Israel and fought in the Israeli war,” said his friend and fellow Holocaust survivor Yehuda Lindenblatt. He moved from Israel to Australia before settling in New York and opening the Ocean View Bakery on Brighton's Second Street.

Mikulinzer's death not only shocked the community, it also caught the attention of the mayor of New York Eric Adams.

“This is a tragedy,” the mayor tweeted on February 7. “Imagine going through what Jack Mikulinzer went through in his life, only to have it end so ridiculously. In his memory, we must keep our streets safe for all New Yorkers."

Mikulintser's late wife was also the victim of a traffic accident, his daughter said. Mikulinzer's wife was injured in a car accident 30 years ago on her way to a Hanukkah celebration in Queens. The car in which she was a passenger overturned, the couple's daughter told Daily News. The woman died in 2011.