HIALEAH, FLA. (WSVN) - Police have taken an alleged hit-and-run driver into custody after a rollover crash in Hialeah claimed the life of a woman and sent a man to the hospital.
Hialeah Police and Fire Rescue units were called to the scene along the 500 block of East 41st Street, at around 7:40 p.m., Monday.
Surveillance video from a nearby church captured the moment of impact, which caused one of the vehicles to briefly go airborne.
Angel Maza, who lives nearby, recalled witnessing the aftermath.
“We heard a big noise,” he said. “We came out, then we saw that whole thing.”
We are live on scene of this fatal hit and run crash in #Hialeah. Video is hard to watch. @wsvn #7News pic.twitter.com/cncOJUeLdj
— Sheldon Fox-7 News (@fox_sheldon) July 2, 2019
According to fire officials, a 63-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
“What I feel sorry about is the lady that got killed,” said Maza. “That’s very sad.”
A second patient, a man in his 60s, was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center in serious condition.
Fire officials said the man suffered a head injury and is in an altered mental status.
The driver of the vehicle that caused the crash fled the scene on foot, but officers soon took the subject into custody.
A witness who lives nearby told 7News the driver who hit the SUV jumped out of the car and was said to be injured and bleeding.
Surveillance video from the parking lot of a nearby restaurant showed the man, wearing a black shirt and shorts, walking around, stretching his shoulder and making a phone call. Soon after, the video showed officers taking the man into custody behind a couple of trees.
He described the crash as a “terrible, terrible accident.”
A source tells me Danny Lazaro Leiva is the accused #Hialeah fatal hit and runner. @wsvn pic.twitter.com/qQZ4KSfRZ0
— Sheldon Fox-7 News (@fox_sheldon) July 3, 2019
Cellphone video taken at the scene showed police taking a man into custody.
7News cameras captured the overturned vehicle laying on its driver side.
Residents in the area where the crash occurred said collisions in the area are very frequent.
“People come through this 41st Street very fast,” Maza said. “If you sit over here one day, you’ll see it. You’ll say, ‘Wow.'”
Maza said he’s got some cleanup to do after the crash but knows his losses don’t compare to the loss others are left with.
“The gate and the door and the dirt,” he said. “That’s all right. That can be cleaned, but when a person dies, that’s something else.”
Police have not released the identities of those involved.
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