A Maryland man who visited sick children dressed as Batman died Sunday night after he was struck by his own Batmobile, which had been hit by another driver.
Lenny B. Robinson was driving eastbound on I-70 near Hagerstown when he experienced engine trouble and stopped partially in the fast lane. According to Maryland State Police, Robinson was checking the engine when a Toyota Camry hit his Batmobile. Robinson's custom black Lamborghini, which then struck him.
Robinson, 51, was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the Camry was not injured.
"He was my brother, my business partner, my best friend,” brother Scott Robinson told the Washington Post. “He touched a lot of lives and made a lot of kids smile. That’s all he wanted to do.”
Robinson impersonated Batman for years but became an even bigger celebrity in the region after police pulled him over while he was in costume and driving his black Lamborghini back in 2012.
Montgomery County Police Detective Paul Borja, who was one of the officers who stopped Robinson, says people oftern ask him if he gave him a ticket.
“How can you give a superhero a ticket?” Borja asked.
The officers wanted to talk about his Batman-logo license plates, which aren't approved in the state. He explained he kept license plates in the back seat because they didn't look right on his Lamborghini when it became the Batmobile, and he was on his way to visit patients at Children's Hospital.
A video of the stop shows police officers eventually shaking his hand and taking pictures with him.
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“To hear that he was killed in an accident is just very tragic,” Borja said. “Thoughts and prayers go out to his immediate family. Then you've got to think about his extended family, too, the kids that he touched.”
In a 2012 profile on the charitable Caped Crusader, The Washington Post reported that Robinson spent more than $25,000 of his own money on Batman-related items every year, including toys, T-shirts and books he gave away to kids.
