A man fatally struck by a car when he was about to board a Sun Tran bus was a gentle person with laughter in his heart, a family member said.
Henry M. Amador, 55, lived in a group home in the 3000 block of East Rickey Vista. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia in his late 20s, but triumphed over his mental illness and was a compassionate person who got along with children, his 47-year-old brother Xavier Amador said.
"Everybody he encountered, he touched and they would tell you Henry Amador was a kind, compassionate person with a tremendous sense of humor," Xavier Amador said.
Part of Henry Amador's daily routine was to ride the bus and visit friends in the area of East 22nd Street and South Country Club Road, according to police.
He was about to get on the bus Monday on East 22nd Street when a man driving a westbound Ford Taurus near Country Club lost control of his vehicle, possibly due to a medical condition. The car traveled between the bus and a bus stop, fatally striking Amador, said Sgt. Mark Robinson, a Tucson police spokesman.
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The Taurus had gone off the road after hitting a vehicle. After striking Amador, the car crashed through a fence and into a building, police said.
Police have not released the name of the driver because he hasn't been cited, Robinson said. Investigators are awaiting the results of toxicology tests to determine what, if any, charges he might face.
Henry Amador came to the United States from Cuba in the early 1960s with his mother, two brothers and sister, Xavier Amador said. His father was killed in the Cuban revolution.
Eight years older than his brother, Henry Amador took on a fatherly role, Xavier Amador said. "Most importantly he helped raise me."
The family moved to Tucson in 1973, and Henry fought forest fires in the Rincon Mountains for several years. He learned of his mental illness when he was in his late 20s and struggled with it at first, Xavier said.
In his early 30s, to the shock of his family, Henry brought a homeless friend to live with him, his mother and brother, Xavier said. The man stayed for a week, until they found a charity organization to help him.
Henry's mother died in June and he planned to move to New York to be closer to Xavier, who is an adjunct professor at Columbia University. Xavier Amador said his older brother was a significant influence.
"Growing up he was my hero," Xavier Amador wrote in an e-mail. "Watching him cope with his mental illness as a man reaffirmed this — he's still my hero."
