Reward Offered In Oakland Park Hit & Run Accident
OAKLAND PARK (CBS4) - Family members and police are hoping a reward might help arrest the hit-and-run driver responsible for killing a former Northeast High School water polo champion.
Michael James Martin, 22, was riding his bike home westbound on NW 33rd Street around 3 a.m. Sunday when a vehicle going east struck him, dragged him around 40 feet, and then fled the scene.
Neighbors heard a noise, but did not know anyone was hit. They saw people from a car get out and walk down the road, looking as though they were upset.
"I saw one gentleman kind of running back this way, then ran back," said witness Sara Johnson. "When he came back, there was two more gentlemen in the back of the vehicle, then he ran back again, same fellow ran both times."
On arrival police found Martin lying next to his bicycle. He was then rushed to Broward General Medical Center in serious condition where he later died from his injuries.
"They mowed down someone who was so precious to us," said Barbara Stephan, Michael's grandmother, "and they left him there to die."
"They just left him there, for somebody else to find," said Michael's sister, Michelle Martin. "For him to bleed in the street in the middle of the night, by himself."
According to the victim's family, he had left work around midnight and probably stopped at a friend's house before the accident.
"Really, is this human?" asked friend Anthony Madeira. "I wouldn't do this to my own dog."
In addition to the Broward Sheriff's Office investigation, the family has hired a private investigator to help them find the hit-and-run driver who struck Martin. He had been in the 800 block of NE 33rd Street when he was killed.
His father had these words of warning for whoever it was that killed Michael.
"You need to do what's right and turn yourself in," said Michael's father, James Martin. "The punishment from the state for an accident is not nearly as much from the Lord. Michael was a good boy and he don't deserve this."
Anyone with information about this case is asked to call BSO Traffic Homicide Detective Robert Miller at 954-321-4840 or contact Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS. Any information leading to an arrest can result in a cash reward of up to $1,000.
