Great-Grandfather, 78, Killed In Latest Fatal Hit-And-Run Across Region
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A 78-year-old great-grandfather was one of the latest victims of deadly hit-and-run crash investigations in our region.
Photos of Rogelia Ruiz Fraga were posted on an online fundraiser for his funeral expenses.
The family wrote on the page that Fraga was on his morning walk to the store when he was hit, not once, but twice at the Fruitridge Avenue and 24th Street intersection. He was killed.
Surveillance video from a nearby business shows one truck stop on the street after hitting Fraga.
The Sacramento Police Department reports a second driver also may have hit Fraga, leaving him dead, and then drove off.
Marc Hinch is a private investigator and retired California Highway Patrol officer who investigated hit-and-runs and says almost all hit-and-run crashes are random, not targeted.
"Usually, you'll see the agencies reach out to the public for help," Hinch said. "In my experience, hit-and-runs are caused by people that, they flee the scene because they're not licensed, or they don't have insurance, or they're intoxicated, and in many cases, all three."
There have been a rash of deadly hit-and-run crashes in our region in recent weeks.
Besides the investigation into Fraga's death Saturday, a 24-year-old man was hit and killed crossing the street in Stockton the same day.
A woman was hit and killed in midtown Sacramento on November 1.
And a high profile hit-and-run crash killed a great grandmother on Lemon Hill Avenue in September. All of them remain unsolved.
"After a few weeks, it's going to be almost impossible unless you got that someone with a conscious, 'Hey man, I can't keep holding onto this information,' " Hinch said.
Sacramento police records show there have been 11 fatal hit-and-run collisions in their jurisdiction to date this year, and only one of those has resulted in an arrest.
Lives have been cut short, and suspects speed away leaving families in pain and in search of answers.
These hit-and-run investigations are all categorized as felony homicide investigations. They will not go away until someone is caught.
