Lenny Robinson, a 51-year-old man who dressed up as Batman in a black Lamborghini Gallardo and visited sick children in hospitals dressed as the superhero, was struck and killed on Interstate 70 on Sunday, the Washington Post is reporting.
The man, who became an Internet star after a video (video below) of his encounter with Montgomery County (Maryland) police made the rounds, was returning from a car show in West Virginia when his Lamborghini was struck.
The so-called “Route 29 Batman” lived outside of Baltimore and delivered toys and books to children around Maryland and Washington D.C.
According to the report, Robinson had left a gas station near Hagerstown, Maryland where he met a local family and delivered toys to a child interested in his car. According to Jalopnik, Robinson had received a replica of the 1960s Batmobile in 2012, although it isn’t clear from reports what car he was driving.
Robinson’s car had broken down, according to witnesses, and he was checking the engine when a Toyota Camry struck the car and Robinson. He was pronounced dead at the scene. No charges have been filed.
Robinson was closely affiliated with the Hope for Henry Foundation, which visits sick children in hospitals.
That’s just sad.
This guy was the real deal. Nothing but respect for what he did. RIP.
Why is it that the folks that are really trying to make a difference and not just for attention or money this type of crap happens to them. Of course I didnt know the guy but it seemed like he tried to be a good person and help people.
You’ve got to be sh*tting me.
I know it sounds trite but it is true.
Only the good die young.
I was thinking up and extensible list of people who would have been much better choices to stand in for Mr. Robinson.
I know it means absolutely nothing, but did it have to be a Camry? That’s the car that hit him.
RIP. Fantastic man.
R.I.P. Picture of Robinson & Barris-style Batmobile replica from August 14:
https://www.facebook.com/eyewitnessnewscharleston/photos/a.130149082844.132252.90859152844/10153636747157845/?type=1&theater
You can’t kill The Batman…
I’d like to know more about the person that hit him and the circumstances. I’m guessing smartphone-glued-to-hand syndrome. So rampant in this great and terrible age of ours.
Yes. To add insult to (fatal) injury, “no charges have been filed.”
No charges have been filed because Robinson’s car was stationary in the passing lane of an interstate highway. Perhaps his car suffered a catastrophic failure and he had no chance to get out of traffic, but the other driver was not at fault.
Lenny Robinson did a lot of good without seeking out any recognition. Rest in peace.
I think we need more information to conclude the other driver was not at fault. A criminal investigation could be one of the methods of obtaining that information.
Now you need complete information to come to a conclusion? You’re a piece of work.
“You’re a piece of work.”
I think we can disagree without being disagreeable.
Sorry. It just felt like you were jumping to conclusions about the driver only to not want a conclusion to be reached that you didn’t expect. In the age of ‘hands up don’t shoot,’ it seems all too common.
“Minutes later, Robinson pulled over with engine trouble on an unlit stretch of Interstate 70 near Hagerstown, Md., police said. The family he’d just met parked behind him, turning their emergency lights on.
His car was stopped in the median, but still “partially in the fast lane” when he got out to check the engine, according to state police. At around 10:30 p.m., a Toyota Camry slammed into the Batmobile, propelling the steel-framed hunk of black metal into his body. Robinson, 51, died at the scene.”
Damn, just damn.
I only want to know if he Camry driver was distracted or not, names and plates not be needed.
Lenny had a good heart, let this incident inspire us to help the sick, and to drive more carefully.
This means the Camry driver did not move over even in the slightest for the emergency blinkers of a stopped car – on a pitch black highway at night. It continued on in the fast lane and clipped whatever black car this nice man was driving.
“This means the Camry driver…”
What’s “this”? A more informative report surface?
As it stands it’s not clear how much Robinson’s car was protruding, whether it had its own emerg lights on and whether another vehicle was paralleling the Camry, possibly limiting its evasive capability.
Since it was night, it’s also possible that the samaritan family’s flashers helped befuddle the Camry driver if Robinson’s own flashers weren’t on.
Lets not jump in to conclusions, traffic accidents happens for so many reasons. This might be one of those innocent accident where “sh*t happens” scenario
RIP to him and God bless his families.
Charging anyone wont bring him back.
Perhaps this will inspire someone else to continue his legacy.
“Charging anyone wont bring him back.”
This is a fact my family was forced to accept the hard way.
A great many people have a fetish for punishment–not for correction, just for retribution. I understand its appeal–bad things happening to people who do bad things is justice, and justice is good & desirable.
However, if punishment doesn’t solve the problem, then it doesn’t really matter, does it? I don’t really care about punishment anymore. If they aren’t going to do it again, and if restitution is made as best they are able, then that’s all I or anyone can rightfully ask. But if it’s something they will do it again and is thus are a risk to others, then yes, get them locked up, monitor them so they can’t harm anyone else.
Everyday I see some maniac in a Camry, I never thought that one would get Batman.
Learn to fu**ing drive people
They say when you are driving or running (as my coach told me), you tend to move towards the thing you are looking at.
Very sorry to hear this…a car enthusiast giving his time to others while enjoying one of his hobbies.
Same thing skiing – Don’t look at the trees, look at the spaces BETWEEN the trees…
I’m just sad that this guy is gone.
The washington post story is well worth reading. And, yes, this is incredibly sad that a guy who spread joy to those greatly in need should die so prematurely.
Important superhero tip: don’t drive unreliable Italian cars.
RIP Lenny. He sounds like he was one of the good ones
He wasn’t driving his Gallardo.
He was driving his Batmobile replicar, and that’s what broke down.
If you click on the Hope for Henry link above and then click on the “donate” tab on their homepage, you can make a donation. I did, and I did it in the name of Lenny Robinson.
I’m happy to see a donation to a real cause for a change, rather than some nobody playing videogames.
As a full-grown adult who was the beneficiary of one of these “superhero-visits” to sick kids (mine was Mr. Fred Rogers visiting me in Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, Easter 1979, while recovering from the repair of a skeletal deformity.) — I have to say:
There is a special place in the Afterlife for heroes like him and others who give true empathy and hope to sick children without expecting anything in return. God bless you, Lenny.
My first word was Rogers, or so I was told. I was sad when he passed twelve years ago.
This is sad news.
I don’t like the way we overuse the word “hero” these days so let me just say that even though Mr. Robinson wasn’t really Batman, he is someone who did his best to make a difference. The fact that this has become a national news story shows that he succeeded.
What are the odds that “Batman” would be killed in a car accident, but simultaneously Donald Trump would tell a bunch of kids “He’S BATMAN???
Batman was a Billionaire by the name of Bruce Wayne.
Donald Trump is a Billionaire.
Coincidence?
He seems more like the Joker.
Penguin.
Trump’s not wearing hockey pads.
This is just terrible, he was a generous and great man. R.I.P. I really did not want to see this today.
This is going to sound cliche, but I hope there is another giving person who also has the time and finances to pick up where Lenny left off so “batman” doesn’t die.
I really get and respect guys like him. I was a teenage cancer patient at MD Anderson hospital. Coach Bum Phillips would send his players up to our ward to visit with us. Great memories from those visits. For many years afterward, I highly respected the Houston Oilers organization. Vaya con dios amigo.
Why was the Camry driver unable to see him? Was it distraction…or were other factors involved? Regardless…it is quite sad. When someone is killed in this manner, I always thought it was involuntary manslaughter. I suppose it depends on the state it happened in. Ohio would have the Camry driver charged. I know, it happened to someone I am acquainted with. 5 years in prison.
God, if I ever need a jury… what do you look like? I’ll pitch a fit.
About 6,1 Red with horns and a tail. Don’t forget the pitchfork! Some call me Beelzebub. Hahaha! But seriously…taking another life, even in an accident, can be unforgiving…unfortunately. Someone as loved as this guy…I’d hate to be the defendand if charged.
Another sobering reminder.
If you must stop in an area of poor visibility or on a narrow shoulder, stay the hell away from your car, preferably upstream.
This is horrible. It’s always the good ones. RIP.
Sadly enough, this makes the case for the new-fangled radar crash-avoidance gizmos –
RIP, Batman.