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Hit and run victim known for helping others
Jim Nisser had the face of a friend and the hands of a working man. "Jim was always there to help out," says Rev. Tim Rauk, Nisser's pastor at Wooddale Lutheran Church in St. Louis Park. Nisser was known for volunteering - grilling at cookouts, ushering, watering the plants. "You knew if you needed something done, Jim would be the one who would say, 'sure I'll help you out with that.'" But early Thursday morning while riding his bicycle to work near 32nd and Excelsior Boulevard, Jim Nisser, 65, was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver. Minneapolis police investigators say the driver had to have known he hit someone. Jim Nisser was dragged between 30 and 40 feet. Police say he was wearing a helmet and had lights on his bike. Police recovered tan paint chips from the accident scene that will be examined by the FBI to try to determine the make and model of the vehicle. "This vehicle probably has right front damage," said Sgt. William Palmer in appealing for help from the public. The Minikahda Country Club flag flew at half staff in Nisser's honor. He'd worked in the kitchen there for more than 40 years - biking when the weather allowed, walking when it didn't. Nisser never got a driver's license because he had cerebral palsy. "He was a kind soul," said Jim Jennings, Minikahda general manager. "I mean never said a bad word about anyone." Nisser lived with his mother at the family home in St. Louis Park until she passed away 12 years ago. He'd lived alone in the home since. Nisser was passionate about the Minnesota Twins and traveled several times to spring training. In fact, Nisser watched the Twins play on television Wednesday night with his sister Carol Hays and her husband Dick, who were visiting from Denver. Carol turned the television on Thursday morning and heard about a biker hit on Excelsior. "I knew; I could tell," she says about her suspicion that Jim had been hit. Now Carol and Dick are pleading with the hit-and-run driver to turn himself in. "There's a conscience everybody has and how could anybody live with that on their mind," says Dick.
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