Manhunt On For Driver Who Hit And Killed Father Pushing Snow Blower
FALLSTON, Md. (WJZ) -- A Harford County man loses his life, walking along his street. The Fallston man was borrowing his neighbor's snow blower when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver.
Christie Ileto has the emergency calls as that driver fled.
That driver has been on the run for more than 24 hours. Police say the Jeep they were driving has obvious damage to the front passenger side and are hoping someone will spot it soon.
The calls for help came fast when police say a driver in a Jeep Cherokee slammed into Chris Widomsky along Harford Road when he was pushing his neighbor's slow blower to his home.
Dispatch: "Report of not breathing."
The 44-year-old lay dying in the street while witnesses say the driver removed the snow blower stuck beneath the car before fleeing.
Dispatch: "Be on the lookout for that vehicle involved in that hit-and-run. The vehicle is going to be traveling on Harford Road."
"How could you even do that to an animal, let alone a human being?" said family friend Bob Marousek.
Family friends try to make sense of the dastardly crime that's left Widomsky's two sons fatherless.
"He was the best father in the world," a family friend said.
Witnesses tell police the driver lost control before they hit the victim. Police believe that speed played a bigger role than the snow covered roads.
"This is a flagrant disregard for human life," said Greg Shipley, Maryland State Police.
State police are now launching a widespread search for a dark colored Jeep Cherokee (like the one pictured below), with flared fenders, a silver push bumper and a lift kit--so it sits higher off the ground.
"There's a possibility the man might have survived if the people would have stopped and called 911 right away," said Bob Tombaugh.
...Something family and friends will never know.
Police say have received numerous leads in the case and are following up on all of them.
Investigators believe the Jeep Cherokee has damage to the front center or front passenger side from the crash.
