USA - It's a sad story: A popular school crossing guard was killed while protecting students after a motorist overlooked the stop sign he was holding.

Bruce Morlack (74) retired five years ago and shortly afterwards became a school crossing guard in the US state of New Jersey.

As People reports, his passion became his undoing. Last Friday, the 74-year-old died in a terrible accident while protecting two schoolchildren from an oncoming car.

As can be seen on a surveillance video, Morlack was holding up the stop sign when two students were in the crosswalk. The sign was probably ignored by a red car, which narrowly missed the group. Shortly afterwards, a white car hit the pensioner.

According to the police, the driver of the white car remained at the scene of the accident and cooperated with the investigation.

The authorities' press release states that the driver of the red vehicle has now been identified. The investigation is still ongoing.

"Bruce's heroic actions saved students from harm and he will forever be remembered as a true hero," police said.