Leonard Robinson, better known to the public as "Baltimore Batman," died this past Sunday, Aug. 16, after being struck by a car on a Maryland highway, the Associated Press reports. He was 51.

Robinson became an unlikely star back in 2012, when police pulled over his custom-made Batmobile on Maryland's Route 29. He was dressed in full Batman regalia at the time, which unsurprisingly prompted a few jokes from the officers on the scene.

Video of the traffic stop went viral, racking up millions of views on YouTube and landing in various news broadcasts — including Anderson Cooper's RidicuList.

Afterward, it came to light that Robinson was known for dressing up like Batman to visit sick children in local hospitals. According to a Washington Post profile that same year, he spent nearly $25,000 a year — of his own money, which he made selling his commercial cleaning business — on Batman toys and memorabilia, which he then distributed to the kids he visited.

Thank You!

You have successfully subscribed.

"Eventually, it sinks in and you become him," he told the paper. "It feels like I have a responsibility that's beyond a normal person. And that responsibility is to be there for the kids, to be strong for them, and to make them smile as much as I can." 

According to the AP, Robinson had engine trouble with his Batmobile on Aug. 16, and was standing in the fast lane of the eastbound I-70 in Maryland when a Toyota Camry struck his car. He died on the scene.

"He touched a lot of lives and made a lot of kids smile," his younger brother, Scott Robinson, told the Washington Post after his death. "That's all he wanted to do."

ncG1vJloZrCvp2PCtLnAoJizoZ6ae6S7zGianqSVl7%2BqwNhmpZ6vo2S7psPSaJmapKSeurC%2BxGaZmqydlrtusMSam2aklaS7or7DZqmompmjwLC6jJ%2BYrZmcocZutMitZJuxXZius3mRaWhuaWdt