Greenwich Village Man Killed In NYC Attack 'Exuded Kindness'

MANHATTAN, NY — The New York Police Department has identified Nicholas Cleves, a resident of Greenwich Village, as one of the eight victims killed in a terrorist attack on Tuesday.

Cleves, who was 23, lived on Greenwich Street in Manhattan.

He was "a truly decent human being who was good to all and wanted to know everything," said Phil Kassen, director of the Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School, the Greenwich Village schools Cleves attended from as young as age 4.

"He just exuded kindness," Kassen said.

Police have named Sayfullo Saipov, an Uber employee and immigrant from Uzbekistan, as the driver who drove into a bike lane on Tuesday afternoon. He then crashed his truck into a school bus, police said.

Also See: NYPD Deputy Commissioner: NYC Truck Attacker Planned For Weeks

Saipov was shot by police and has been taken to a hospital in police custody.

Five of the other victims were a group of Argentinian men visiting the city. Another American, the 32-year-old Darren Drake of New Jersey, and the 31-year-old Anne Laure Decadt of Beligum were also killed.

Cleves graduated in 2012 from Elisabeth Irwin High School, a private prep school, and worked as a software engineer and analyst for the software firm Unified Digital Group, according to his LinkedIn page.

Cleves had been doing occasional IT work for his alma mater, known collectively as LREI, since his graduation last year from Skidmore College in upstate Saratoga Springs, Kassen said. He was last on the school's campus on Saturday.

"We'll really miss him," Kassen said. "He's been around a lot recently, and we're devastated."

Cleves also worked for CX Design, an artisan lighting design company his parents founded. His mother, Italian-born Monica Missio, lives in New York and is CX Design's creative director. His father, British-born Richard Cleves, died in 2013, according to an obituary.

Kassen said Cleves was interested in "all things technical" as a high schooler. He "knew a lot about how to make things work and always willing to try to puzzle through a knotty problem," Kassen said.

Kassen said he spoke with a Cleves family friend Wednesday and plans to talk with his mother, who he understands to be "distraught."

According to the New York Post, Cleves' mother declined to comment on her son's death. But a deli worker named Dianne had only kind things to say about the man.

“He’s absolutely lovely, he was a sweetheart, warm and friendly," she told the Post about Cleves. "He would come in every day."

Noah Manskar/Patch contributed reporting.

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images