Family Of Sandwich Man Killed In Hit And Run Crash Seeks Answers
BOURNE (CBS) - The family of a Sandwich man is looking for answers after a fatal crash on the Sagamore Bridge that shut it down for hours the night of the Fourth of July.
Police say 43-year-old Michael Furlong was sideswiped by a pickup truck that pushed him into the median and into the path of an oncoming van which he struck head-on. One person in the van, 44-year-old Amnon Bogomolsky of Israel, was killed, while five other passengers were injured.
"A witness said my son did everything he could to prevent the accident from happening," said his mother Evelyn Furlong. He was ejected from his vehicle, and witnesses say he miraculously tried to get up even as he complained of severe injuries. "He was a broken man the doctors said. They don't know how he got up, it broke his ribs, his liver, everything," said his mother.
His longtime girlfriend Carrie Yetman believes it was his instinct to try to make sure everyone else was alright. She said it took four witnesses to try to keep him down while they called an ambulance. Furlong was rushed to South Shore Hospital, still conscious, when his family got to his side two hours after the accident.
His mother said they had to detour around the bridge never knowing her son was involved in the accident that had brought traffic to a halt. "He said, 'Mom I love you'. I said 'Mike you've got to pull through, what happened?' He said 'I'm not going to pull through this, I can't, this is it for me'," said Evelyn Furlong.
Michael died from his injuries one week later. Now with the skid marks from the crash still in view on the bridge, the family wants to know who was driving the vehicle that hit him with such force. Police say they're looking for the driver of a dark colored pickup truck who never stopped on the bridge.
"There were so many people driving. Most of the time people are nosy nowadays so I don't know how somebody didn't see something," said Carrie Yetman. She owns the Sweet Tomatoes pizza shop in Sandwich with Furlong who she says had the vision for the popular business. She's convinced he did everything to try to stop that night. "He was my best friend, he was my soul mate," she said. "It's going to be tough for everyone to do anything without him. He did everything for everyone."
Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe will only say the investigation is on-going and they are looking to question the driver.
