Posted to Accidents on

Minister killed in Crown Heights hit-run

NY Daily News

CROWN HEIGHTS, Brooklyn — A beloved Brooklyn minister was killed Saturday when his car was crushed by a suspected drunken driver speeding away from a nightclub, police said.

More pictures in the Extended Article.

Clayton Greaves, 75, was at the wheel of his gold Buick Park Avenue when a Toyota Camry swerved into the intersection of Sterling St. and New York Ave. in Crown Heights just after 3:10 a.m., police said.

The Camry driver, Arlene Campbell, 26, of Norwich, Conn., tried to drive off after she allegedly slammed into Greaves, but her damaged car broke down just a few blocks away.

“I’m in shock, and I’m disgusted,” said Hesma Stephens, 38, one of Greaves’ three adult children. “No one deserves to die – no one – but especially not in such a reckless, hideous act.

”For someone to go out to have a good time and then take away the life of such a family-oriented person. …“ said Stephens, her voice trailing off into tears.

Greaves, a freelance minister who had preached at a series of Brooklyn churches for 30 years, was driving to his Weeksville home after a fellowship meeting, his youngest daughter said.

”He was a very happy person – the kind of person who lives to make others better,“ said Natalie Greaves, 30, of Laurelton, Queens. ”He was extremely charismatic … you always knew he was there.“

Campbell, dressed in a blue miniskirt, a matching tank top and high heels, staggered out of her car about a half mile from the accident scene, witnesses said.

”She tells one of the cops, ‘I’m intoxicated,’“ said a city Sanitation Department worker who witnessed the crash but asked that his name not be used. ”Two seconds later, she was in handcuffs.“

Campbell was arrested at the scene but no charges have been filed yet, police said. Detectives have requested a blood warrant to check her level of intoxication, according to a police source.

”My father was extremely jovial – a storyteller and a dynamic personality,“ said Stephens, who lives in Houston. ”This is an outrage.”

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19 Comments

  • leah

    very sad – but, the point? I thought this website was for and about anash that live in crown heights

  • Dov36

    Dear Mendel,
    Altough any loss of life is tragic especially by a drunk driver.Of course his family grives for him. But how can his soul find eternal peace when he dedicated his life to avoda zora????

  • Sterling Street Restident

    To all you naysayers and people that love living in your little bubble. THERE IS A WHOLE WORLD OUT THERE!

    This site is far from ‘just’ a site geared for anash, it covers a verity of topics around the city, in case you didn’t notice. And specifically it covers Crown Heights, which is where this incident happened, Sterling and New York, the entire block there is made up of Jewish residents.

    Thanks CHI for publishing this incident which happend just down my block!

  • Yitzchak

    Leah:

    A drunk who gets behind the wheel of a car in Crown Heights is a danger to the entire community.

  • elliyahu

    Mendel, Yasher Koach for reporting this one… maybe if one of their community reads crownheights.info, they’d see that achdus means caring for all created beings…
    (the exception being of course muslim extremists and the like)

  • Pentax1

    To Dov36:

    You can’t classify his
    practices as Ovadah Zorah because
    your religion does. He believes what
    he was doing was right and you
    believe what you are doing is right,
    who are you to say he is wrong?

    No religion can prove to me that
    they are most “Right” and show me G-D.
    That is why it is called religion because religion=faith, faith that
    you are right and they are wrong.

    But don’t go out and judge other people
    and denounce their faith if you wouldn’t like it done to you.

  • menashe

    This isn’t the forum for such an argument. see your local orthodox rabbi, Pentax1 to learn why it is not only permitted but an obligation to call it what it is, avodah zara.

  • STERLING STREET RESIDENT..

    I live on Sterling St… and had been woken up by this accident… BIG CRASH, and heard the broken car flee away.

    I am glad they posted this, so I am aware of what happened at my corner..

    All you critics think before you speak, Sterling St. is where many anash live and it affects us, and we neeed to know what happpens right down our block!!

  • to leah

    leah do you really exist? or is it someone playing a prank? Are there reallyt such stupid insular people out ther? What world are you living in?!!

    My g-d, you are something else, leah!

  • Rosey

    My sympathies to the family and those whose lives he touched.
    Chevra, please keep in mind, kiddush Hashem. Many non Jews read this site. We are supposed to be a light unto the nations. How we respond to this such situation can show much about us either positive, or has v’shalom negative. There are many opportunities to show that we are a people of chessed and rachamim. If we treat and view our neighbors how we want them to see us, we might have more shalom.

  • Someone

    To Dov36
    He believed that there was a God.What the heck do you mean he served av**ah z**ah?

  • David

    Condolences to his family. If he kept the seven Noahide laws, then he is certainly one of the righteous gentiles. For heavens sake, knowing the gravity of the tragedy and his position, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt.

  • Elie

    I am saddened to see the closed mindedness of some of the posters but am encouraged to see that most of you are in agreement, that any human being who is killed so tragically should be mourned Jew or nor Jew, we are all created in G-ds image.
    This story is important and is a lesson to us all to be careful when driving, and kudos to the editors for posting it as relevant. The Minister was a father and spiritual leader to his community and we should all show some respect. The Rebbe would not be proud to hear your closed minded comments, the Rebbe cared even for the Chinese people in uptown NY, just ask rabbi Groner, and they follow buddhism, but this Minister i assume followed a One G-d, and even would travel between churches to inspire, in fact he was a shliach in his own way, so whats your problem? As long as any human being is hurt we should all care, unless they are evil in some way. Today many Christians are our best friends compared with another group I wont mention. May his family find comfort.