GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Police are asking for the public's help in trying to track down a driver believed to be involved in a deadly hit and run downtown early Sunday.
As nearby bars and night clubs were closing their doors, and patrons heading home, a man stepped into the cross walk at South Division Avenue and Andre.
It was just after 3 a.m. when a vehicle driving north on Division slammed into the man, sending his body flying dozens of feet.
"He did a lot for the community. We would go pick up trash and everything," a man who stays in the area told FOX 17 Tuesday afternoon.
The man, who we are not naming at this time, says he was sitting on a bench just a few hundred feet away when his friend was hit.
"He was trying to move out of the way, and the car just... boom," he recalled.
"I looked, said, 'oh my God.' I got so scared."
Based on surveillance video of the crash, captured by a salon on nearby Kirtland, the vehicle did not stop after hitting the man.
"It just happened so fast," his friend who watched it happen said Tuesday.
"I almost got hit a couple times crossing the street."
He says that drivers are particularly careless in the hours immediately before and after the bars and clubs close, around 2 a.m.- 3 a.m.
It is difficult to determine exactly what type of vehicle was involved in the crash based on the surveillance video, though it appears to be some sort of four door SUV.
Amy Salinas', who's family owns the salon on Kirtland, tells FOX 17 that the City of Grand Rapids has been posting pedestrian warning signs near the cross walk.
Unfortunately, Salinas says those signs are quickly struck and knocked over within days or weeks of being posted or repaired.
“The cars end up running it over, not even caring that it’s out there,” she explained Tuesday.
"It's so dangerous, even if you want to go to the Family Dollar, you can’t do that.”
GRPD's traffic unit continues to investigate the deadly hit and run crash.
Anyone who thinks they may know who the driver was, or has any information at all regarding what happened, is asked to contact GRPD Officer Alex Thompson at (616) 456-3320 or athompson@grcity.us
Information can also be shared 100% anonymously via Silent Observer at (616) 774-2345.
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