Miami Man Killed in Hit and Run Accident

Leopoldo Carrillo, a 78-year-old man was struck and killed by a car in Little Havana early Sunday morning.

Mr. Carrillo was hit near Southwest Fifth Avenue and Seventh Street, just west of Interstate 95.

At about 6:15 a.m., a passerby stopped and found Mr. Carrillo lying on the street, in distress but still alive. The passerby called 911, and Mr. Carrillo was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, where he died.

At this time, Police have no leads. Carrillo’s family urged the driver or other witnesses to come forward. “It’s very painful to hear that your father was hit by a car and that that car didn’t stop,” said a tearful Jacqueline Carrillo, the younger of Carrillo’s two grown daughters. “He didn’t deserve to die this way.”

As reported by The Miami Herald, Miami investigators think Carrillo was trying to cross Seventh Street from north to south when he was hit.

Investigators asked anyone with information to call the Miami Police Department’s traffic homicide unit at 305-603-6525 or Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.

The number of Hit and Run accidents in Miami is staggering. it seems that on a weekly basis someone dies in a Hit and Run Accident.

People are opting to choose self-preservation over personal responsibility in many car accidents. According to The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, one (1) out of every five (5) pedestrians killed on the roads, dies from a hit-and-run.

There are many factors contributing to the abundance of hit-and-runs, but a couple of the most prevalent are the number of unlicensed or illegal drivers and the fear of Driving Under the Influence penalties.

The AAA Foundation of Traffic Safety found that 21% of all fatal crashes from 1993-1999 involved drivers with no valid license. That is a huge percentage of people on the road, driving illegally. Nobody knows exactly how many unlicensed drivers there are, but the number is projected to be somewhere in the millions. Many believe the high number of hit-and-runs corresponds with the high number of illegal immigrants who are unlicensed. If an illegal immigrant was to stay on the scene of a car accident they could risk deportation and this fear promotes a “nothing to lose” mentality: that the consequences of fleeing are equal to or less than the consequences of being arrested for having no license and being involved in a fatal car crash. Thus, the top seven states with the largest populations of illegal immigrants are the top hit-and-run fatalities states.

If you are the victim of a Hit and Run accident, you may want to contact a Miami Personal injury lawyer to review your case.

In Florida, Uninsured Motorist coverage provides benefits for Hit and Run Victims.