WEST PALM BEACH — About 40 people clad in red — Connor Blais’ favorite color — gathered Sunday afternoon in West Palm Beach to install a “Slow Down” memorial sign at the spot where the 28-year-old bartender was killed in a hit-and-run crash in July.
“I want him to be remembered as the loving person that he was,” said Janet Blais, Connor’s mother.
Carrying signs that read “Justice For Connor,” family and friends — some coming from as far as Fort Myers — took turns driving the sign’s post into the ground at the corner of South Olive Avenue and East Lakewood Road.
Police say Blais was riding his electric scooter home from a bartending shift at O’Shea’s Irish Pub on July 6 when he was struck by a vehicle near the 4900 block of South Olive Avenue. Officers
found him at around 1:50 a.m., his scooter on the ground nearby.
The driver, who fled the scene, has not yet been identified. The investigation remains open.
O'Shea's bartender Connor Blais recalled for kindness, safe driving
Janet described her son as inseparable from her growing up.
“He was my 'Mini-Me.' We did everything together,” she said, recalling their frequent trips to Walt Disney World. “He’d give you the shirt off his back if you needed it, and he would just smile and say, ‘I’ll just get another one.’ ”
Janet wore a Stitch shirt — a nod to Connor's favorite movie, "Lilo & Stitch" — and said she hopes the new sign will remind drivers passing through the area to “remember the speed limit” and “to be cautious.”
Lawrence Cassenti, Connor’s partner and one of the organizers of the memorial, said Connor always followed the rules of the road — a detail he said makes the loss especially hard to process.
“His scooter only went 18 mph, and he was in the bike lane,” he said.
The wait for any updates on the investigation, Cassenti said, has been agonizing.
“I’m frustrated with how long it’s taking, but I know these things take a long time,” he said. “It can’t come quick enough. I can’t sleep, and I just need something to happen.”
Cassenti woke up at about 4 a.m. the morning of the accident with an unsettling feeling. Checking his phone, he saw Connor’s location placed him about 2 miles from the home they shared in Lake Worth Beach. And when Cassenti arrived, he found the area full of patrol cars.
He hopes whoever was behind the wheel will eventually come forward.
“Nothing is going to bring him back, but at least we’ll have some kind of closure,” Cassenti said.
Family, friends eager for justice in the hit-and-run that killed Connor Blais
Friends have also been leaving tributes at the tree near where Connor’s body was found, about half a block from where he was first struck.
Charlene Carlin, Connor's friend and a regular at O'Shea's, wore red glitter with a ribbon in her hair.
“We just want to bring attention to the community that there's still justice that needs to be served,” she said. “We're going to keep bringing it up. We're going to keep being there for him.”
Donations collected through a GoFundMe set up by O’Shea’s have gone toward funeral costs, with additional funds directed to the LGBTQ Compass Community Center in Lake Worth Beach to support HIV research, a cause Connor cared about.
“He was the love of my life. … It's absolutely horrific that he was taken from me,” said Cassenti.
Cassenti, general manager of the Gulfstream Hotel in Lake Worth Beach, hopes to memorialize Connor by naming a cocktail after him: Connor’s Blackberry Blaze, based on his favorite drink. After Sunday’s ceremony, the group returned to O’Shea’s to share one in his honor.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: O'Shea's bartender Connor Blais honored at site where crash killed him
