Route 29 Batman Killed in Tragic Accident

A man who regularly dressed up as Batman to give sick children at hospitals hope to make it through their treatments has died after he was struck while on the side of Interstate 70 in Maryland.

The Washington Post reports that Lenny B. Robinson was struck and killed as he fixed fixed his custom Batmobile on a dark stretch of highway. Robinson had pulled vehicle over into a median, and a family he had met at a gas station he recently stopped at turned on its emergency lights behind him. Robinson had given gifts and trinkets to children at the station as he filled up his Batmobile.

At around 10:30 p.m. a Toyota Camry struck the Batmobile as the 51-year-old Robinson was inspecting the engine, sending the vehicle into him and killing him instantly. The crash is under investigation, but criminal charges have not been filed against the driver of the Camry.

Robinson lived in Owen Mills, a Baltimore suburb, and drove every weekend to New Jersey to pick up his kids from his ex-wife.

Robinson's brother said that playing Batman for sick children at local hospitals became an obsession of his and that he had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the pursuit. The Batmobile itself cost at least $100,000 as it was a Lamborghini retrofitted to look like the 1960s incarnation of the legendary vehicle.

It typically took Robinson 45 minutes to put on the make up he needed to play the part convincingly, and the armor and outfit he wore to achieve maximum effect usually caused him to sweat around five to six pounds of water.

He first began to dress up as Batman when he saw how happy it made his son Brandon and other children, and it was at this point he chose to dedicate his life to giving sick children hope.