Hit & Run Victim's Family Pleads For Info On Driver
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The family of a man killed while riding his scooter in Miami made a passionate plea for someone to come forward with information on Thursday morning.
All this as the driver who hit him and kept going remains at large.
There were some emotional moments inside Miami Police headquarters as a mother and two cousins grieved for 29-year old Jean Carlos Hernandez-Trujillo.
Family members say he was a visitor from Venezuela and owned a business in that country.
"We was very close to Jean Carlos. Jean Carlos was the happiness in our family," said the victim's cousin Amirilis Lopez.
City of Miami Police said a 2008 Mazda 6 ran a red light and struck Trujillo as he rode his scooter at 1 West Flagler Street around 1:50 a.m.
That's when, police say, Trujillo was knocked off his scooter and onto the trunk of the vehicle, remaining there until the driver turned to go onto the ramp of I-95.
Trujillo later fell off the trunk and onto the street. Authorities pronounced him dead at the scene.
"This was the most horrible thing that could run through your head," said Trujillo's mother Janeth Trujillo. "That person is a monster. He carried him on his trunk for two blocks."
Trujillo flew to Miami from Venezuela after her son was killed. She wept as she told CBS4's Peter D'Oench, "Imagine what is going through your mind when you get the telephone call."
Police said the car should have some damage to the front-end, windshield, trunk and under carriage and may be silver. They also said it had tinted windows.
"That person don't have to be walking around. That person has to be in the jail now," said Lopez. "I am angry because that person continue driving with the body of Jean Carlos on the top of the car."
Even a veteran Miami Police traffic homicide detective who is handling this case is particularly upset about the incident.
"It's a human being. It's not a dog," said an emotional Miami Police Detective Willie Moreno. "This person obviously has no conscience. He has no family. I want to know who this person is."
Anyone with information is urged to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-8477 (TIPS).