Mount Vernon Police Looking For Hit-And-Run Driver Who Left 73-Year-Old Badly Hurt
MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A 73-year-old Bronx man is undergoing surgery Monday night after being the victim of a hit-and-run in Mount Vernon over the weekend.
The incident happened around 2 p.m. Saturday on Columbus Avenue, also known as Route 22, CBS2's Lou Young reported.
James Blake, a retired contractor, father of five and grandfather of 18, was helping his nephew move into a house and was crossing the busy street to get something out of his trunk. The speeding car clipped him, sent him crashing to the pavement and just kept going, authorities said.
Omar Nathan, Blake's nephew, was still inside the vehicle when it happened. He described finding his uncle underneath the chasis, bleeding.
"There was a loud noise in the front," he said. "When I looked through the rearview, I saw his feet on the ground.
"It's terrible to see him laying on the floor like that. Can't help himself. He was knocked out."
Blake suffered multiple face and skull fractures, a broken jaw and two breaks to his leg. He is undergoing surgery at Jacobi Medical Center.
"It's horrible," Terran Ferris, the victim's teenage grandson. "He doesn't deserve it.
"I was shocked. I came in the room, sat down. I lost breath. I was shocked."
Police say they're looking for a green Nissan Altima.
"We've looked at all the surveillance that we have here in the area, and we're scanning other businesses to see if they have any information that they can share," Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Thomas said.
Neighbors told Young traffic on Columbus Avenue is a constant threat to pedestrian safety.
"They be speeding too much on the streets here," one woman said. "They go by crazy. They need to put some bumps."
"We live here, so I don't even like her to play out in front," neighbor Elizabeth Daniels said of her daughter. "We go to playgrounds and things like that because it's such a high-traffic area."
Thomas said the entire city is due for a traffic equipment upgrade to better control the flow of vehicles. Many of the traffic lights on Columbus Avenue are more than 35 years old.
Meanwhile, police say they've cracked down on overweight trucks using the route are now moving on to speed traps to flag lead-footed drivers.
