ORANGE CITY, Fla. – The niece of a man killed in a hit-and-run crash Wednesday is pleading for justice after troopers located the SUV believed to have been involved.
Pedro Carrera Perez, 72, was killed while riding his bicycle in the crosswalk near the intersection of Enterprise Road and Volusia Avenue in Orange City, according to officials from the Florida Highway Patrol.
A witness saw the driver get out her vehicle and look at Perez before she drove off, the FHP said.
"That's what's hurtful. That's what hurts the most," Perez's niece Barbara Carrera said. "She left him there to die."
Troopers located the suspected vehicle -- a silver, 2005 Chevy Tahoe -- in a residential neighborhood about two miles from the crash scene, Lt. Kim Montes, an FHP spokesperson, said.
According to investigators, the SUV had sustained significant front-end damage, consistent with striking a bicyclist.
"We're hoping for something to come out of this soon and for her to be arrested because she has to pay for what she did," Carrera said.
The vehicle's owner declined to give troopers an interview without her attorney present, Montes said.
"It's frustrating is what it is," Carrera said. "[The driver] looked at his body bleeding. How do you live with yourself?"
The crash remains under investigation and charges are pending.