A beloved Michigan pastor was killed earlier this month after a driver who was in the country illegally allegedly blew a red light and struck the 72-year-old, according to authorities and family members.
Stephen Singleton was on his daily morning run in Rochester Hills and was crossing the street within the crosswalk while wearing a reflective vest when he was struck by the migrant on Nov. 3, his family and the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said.
He suffered severe trauma and was rushed to the hospital, where he was placed on life support. Five days later, the pastor was declared brain-dead and taken off life support, his granddaughter said.
The heartbroken family is now questioning why the man allegedly responsible for the death of their beloved husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather was walking free if he had crossed into the country illegally.
“I had to sit and watch my husband of 53 years die in front of me and then to know that the person who did this is walking around is very difficult to deal with,” his widow Teri Singleton told FOX 2 Detroit.
The driver who allegedly struck Singleton is a 28-year-old native of Columbia who entered the country illegally and was released into the US pending a future hearing, according to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office and US Customs and Border Protection.
At the time of the collision, he was driving a 2013 Ford Focus with a valid foreign driver’s license. He was accused of running a red light by the pastor’s family.
The driver has not been arrested as of Monday. The Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the case, according to reports.
Singelton’s family said the 72-year-old devoted his whole life to helping others and stayed active in his old age.
“He never met a stranger, was a friend to everyone and made lifelong friendships,” his granddaughter Allie Singelton wrote on a GoFundMe page. “His motto was everyone was his brother or sister and sharing support, wisdom and the love of the Lord was his responsibility. He was a father to the fatherless, as well as all his nieces and nephews and every child in all the neighborhoods he frequented.”
He was a pastor for the Archdiocese of Detroit for the past 52 years.
“He officiated over hundreds of funerals for people,” Allie Singelton said. “Helping families who couldn’t afford to pay for a funeral, receive a dignified service. Due to his determination to make a difference he regularly fed the homeless and would give the clothes off his back to help anyone in need. When there was a disaster, he would immediately go to help.”
Singelton volunteered to help in several national disasters, including with the search and rescue team following the 9/11 terrorist attacks and recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina, according to his granddaughter.
The couple lived on a fixed income and Tori Singelton was dependent on her husband both financially and for day-to-day care as she is partially disabled, their granddaughter wrote.
She set up the GoFundMe to raise money to cover her grandfather’s medical bills and funeral and to support her grandmother who is now on her own, she said.
Singleton’s daughter said she is putting aside anger over her father’s tragic death because it’s what he taught her to do.
“I will not be angry because this has happened,” Ruth Singleton told FOX 2. “I refuse to be angry. I will still love like my Dad taught me to.”
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