Man hit, killed by car while picking up items in street near Kennedy High School

BLOOMINGTON, Minn (FOX 9) - A vehicle struck and killed a 66-year-old man near John F. Kennedy High School in Bloomington early Saturday morning, according to police.

The man's family identified him as Joesph Greeman and said he was a retired factory worker and blackjack dealer who lived nearby.

Bloomington Police responded to reports of a car hitting a pedestrian at approximately 5 a.m. on 98th Street East near 2nd Avenue, according to a press release.

Police say a witness told officers that Greeman was hit by a vehicle traveling westbound on 98th Street while he was on foot and picking up items that appeared to have fallen off a trailer being pulled by a vehicle he was a passenger in.

An ambulance rushed Greeman to the Hennepin County Medical Center, where he died from his injuries at 5:45 a.m., police said.

Police said the driver who struck the man cooperated with officers and showed no signs of impairment.

Greeman's nephew, Garett Greeman, described him as a "big family man," who would regularly host Fourth of July celebrations for his brothers and sisters and their children.

"He brought a lot of fireworks from Wisconsin back to Minnesota and we'd shoot them off in the yard behind my grandma's house, we had a lot of fun doing that," Garett Greeman recalled.

The crash is still under investigation.