NYPD: Driver abandoned vehicle after hitting and killing 49-year-old Jesus Perez in Brooklyn
NEW YORK -- A dispute turned deadly Friday after a man was killed in a hit-and-run in Brooklyn.
Police are now looking for the driver involved in the fatal crash.
It happened at the intersection of Keap Street and South Fifth Street in Williamsburg just before 12:30 p.m., according to police.
The suspect and the man who died, identified by police as 49-year-old Jesus Perez of Brooklyn, had some sort of fight before the deadly hit-and-run, according to Perez's brother.
Surveillance video obtained by CBS2 shows two individuals interacting with the driver of a dark-colored SUV before he backs up, plows into Perez, then runs over him.
Law enforcement officials say the driver kept going, then ditched the car at Meserole and Humboldt, about a mile away, and took off on foot.
They believe he may have run into Bushwick Houses while witnesses called emergency services to help the victim.
Perez was pronounced dead less than 40 minutes later at Woodhull Hospital. His identity was not immediately released.
"We heard like an argument and then turned over, black SUV ran over this guy. People started screaming. The SUV tore down the street and then the guy was in the intersection, he was flailing around a little bit and then stopped moving. It was pretty rough, pretty brutal," said witness Jon Anderson.
"Seeing the shape that he was in, lying on the ground there. It didn't look good. Then, you know, I saw the ambulance pull up and they were giving the guy CPR," witness Jesse Koechling said.
Many neighbors said they recognize the suspect from other incidents in the area.
An NYPD helicopter was canvassing the area from above while law enforcement officers searched for the suspect on the ground.
That suspect has not yet been caught.