Man Dragged, Left To Die, In S. Dade Hit And Run
SOUTH MIAMI HEIGHTS (CBS4) - A man was dragged half a block and left to die, police said, after he was hit near a South Miami Heights bus bench early Saturday morning as he tried to cross the street. Police say the driver whose car hit the man fled, and they're looking for help finding that car.
The victim, identified by police as 26 year old Jerrick Moore, was seen apparently trying to cross the street against traffic at a bus bunch on SW 117th avenue in South Miami Heights just north of SW 187th street around 6:30 a.m.
Miami-Dade police spokesperson Detective Roy Rutland said a person with business in the area saw Moore as he turned onto a side street. When he came back to SW 117th street a few moments later, Rutland said, the witness saw Moore lying in the street about half a block from the bus bench.
Just a few feet away, a silver Lexus or Infiniti was parked on the side of the road with its emergency lights flashing. Rutland said as the witness watched, the car sped off.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue was called and Moore was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he died of his injuries. Investigators said the evidence shows the man was apparently in the street in front of the bus bench and dragged about half a block.
Rutland said police don't know if the car spotted by the witness was just another witness or the person who hit Moore, but they want to speak with the driver.
"Our priority right now is locating that vehicle that was seen on the side of the roadway," Rutland told CBS4.com's Dave Game, "and the driver of that vehicle. That driver could have been just a witness who fled, but we think that driver may have critical information."
He said at this point, police don't know why Moore was going into traffic on SW 117th Avenue, which is busy even at 6:30 a.m. on a Saturday.
"We're pretty confident someone would have seen what occurred, and we just need that one person to come forward and give us that information," Rutland said.
"Often in these cases there's just one small detail that helps traffic homicide investigators solve these cases, and we're just looking for that one small detail."
