LAUDERHILL, FLA. (WSVN) - Police are searching for a driver who fled the scene of a fatal hit-and-run and rollover crash in Lauderhill with two children who were involved in the crash.
The collision occurred on State Road 7 near Northwest 16th Street, just before 11 a.m., Monday.
“It was a horrific crash, as you can see. The red SUV was actually rolled over on its side,” Lauderhill Police Lt. Mike Santiago said.
According to police, a red SUV rolled over after it collided with a green BMW, and the driver left the scene with two small children.
Police said the passenger of the red SUV was airlifted to Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, where she later died of her injuries.
When police arrived on the scene of the crash, they couldn’t find the driver, and they learned from witnesses what happened.
“At some point, there was another vehicle that came, removed the kids from the green BMW, along with the driver of that car, and drove away,” Santiago said.
Police said the two children were later found, but they still need to find the driver.
Jeff Yohanc said he was working nearby when he heard the crash, and he rushed to rescue the victims. 7News cameras captured his pants still stained with blood which, he said, belonged to the driver.
“When I pulled him outside with everybody, the blood, I guess from his back, he was bleeding from his head, and then, these are cuts from the window,” he said. “Everybody was trying to get the windows open.”
Yohanc said he found the red SUV flipped over with the man and woman stuck inside. That’s when he and the other Good Samaritans jumped into action.
“Out of nowhere, you hear someone say, ‘There’s gas leaking, so we need to tip this thing over,’ and they tipped it over,” he said. “As soon as they did, we see the woman, and she didn’t look like she was in good shape, and so we went around the side, and everyone tried to help her out as much as they could. Then, we went to the driver’s side, me and this other gentleman, and we got to proceed to pull him out, and that’s when I heard the husband. He was trying to wake up — I don’t know if it was his wife or his sister– and that got everyone a little choked up because he was trying to wake her up. We said, ‘Hey, we gotta get you out of here.'”
The couple was rushed to the Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, but the woman would not survive.
Yohanc said he wishes he could’ve done more, but he’s grateful he and the others did what they could.
“It was good to see that we were all united in that kind of sense, but it’s just, you know, any day could be your last day, and it’s just a sad thing to see, especially because you wake up and think it’s going to be a beautiful day, and then you see something like that happen. It could be your last moment,” he said.
The hit-and-run is still under investigation, and the driver of the red SUV is still recovering at the hospital.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the man is said to still be in critical condition.
Officials said the children suffered minor injuries in the crash.
Police said they have identified the man behind the wheel of the green BMW, but haven’t been able to track him down.
If you have any information regarding the whereabouts of the driver, call police immediately.
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