MIAMI (WSVN) - A man was rushed to the hospital after a hit-and-run driver struck him in Wynwood.
Surveillance cameras captured a sedan driving onto a sidewalk and striking a man near Northeast 26th Street and North Miami Avenue, Sunday evening.
Miami Fire Rescue responded to the scene and transported the unconscious victim to Jackson Memorial Hospital with serious bodily injuries.
“I hear all the screaming. I look right there, to that side,” said witness Shawn Alarcon. “You could actually still see the blood on the sidewalk. Dude’s laying here lifeless.”
The video showed the driver immediately fleeing as curious bystanders rushed outside of a business.
“I just felt bad for the family, man,” Alarcon said. “We saw everything on camera after it happened, and for you to just be walking with your family and a car comes out of nowhere and runs you over in front of your daughter and wife. That’s traumatizing for everybody. For the guy to just take off, that’s a real piece of crap move. You don’t do that. That’s another human being.”
He described how quick he sprung into action to make sure the driver didn’t get away.
“I start looking down the block to see what car it was, and I saw it. It was a white Corolla,” Alarcon said. “I ran back inside, hopped in the car in the back and came back around the corner, and as I’m coming down North Miami, I see the guy on the skateboard swing it to the right.”
After the good Samaritans tracked down the driver, they decided to take matters into their own hands.
“Dude picks up the skateboard, busts out the window and took his keys out the ignition,” Alarcon said. “Then we pulled dude out of the car and held him ’til the police came.”
7News spoke with Cory Boehne, who stopped the hit-and-run driver from getting away.
“Basically, I just pulled up next to the car, tried to order him to shut off the car and get out of the vehicle,” he said. “He was not going to do so. It became obvious he was about to pull off. At that time, I just picked up my skateboard — the Onewheel — and it’s about a 30-pound board, so I just took it and put it right through the driver’s side window, reached in, shut off the key, put the car on park and just opened the door [and] pulled the guy out of the car.”
Officials said the driver was arrested at an unknown location. He was identified as 24-year-old Jose Esteban Contreras.
“He was either on drugs or super blacked out drunk, ’cause he didn’t know where he was standing,” said Alarcon.
“He’s acting disoriented, confused,” Boehne said.
Contreras faces charges for leaving the scene of a crash and marijuana possession.
The victim is expected to survive.
Police continue to investigate the hit-and-run.
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