OCALA, Fla. – A man walking along U.S. Highway 441 was hit and dragged underneath a car in a hit-and-run crash Friday night in what a witness describes “as the most horrific thing” he’s ever seen.
Monday afternoon Ocala Police said they were still looking for the driver who dragged 45-year-old Quliptens Montgomery almost half a mile through the downtown Ocala area, killing him.
The department said a 45-year-old man was walking in the outside lane of the highway around 10:15 p.m. when he was hit by a white Toyota.
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Witness Joshua Rodriguez said Montgomery walked out of the Wawa at the intersection and into the roadway when he was hit.
“The guy flew up like 5 turns, hits the floor,” Rodriguez said. “The car just kept going and didn’t stop. We were trying to get him to stop. And he wouldn’t stop.”
Rodriguez said it was clear the driver of the white Toyota Avalon knew he had hit someone.
“He stopped, backed up, tried to get the body off the car, and it got stuck even more in the back tires and stopped at the light and just drug him, kept on dragging him,” Rodrigues said. “He looked like a rag doll.”
Rodriguez believes Montgomery would have survived if the driver had just stopped.
“He probably would have made it if he didn’t run over him again and wedge him into the back tires he probably would have made it,” Rodriguez said. “Obviously he didn’t care, just kept on going.”
Police said Montgomery got stuck underneath the car and the car continued driving, dragging Montgomery for half a mile to the 500 block of SW 1st Avenue where his body was dislodged. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The vehicle was found at the intersection of Broadway Street and Tuscawilla Avenue, but authorities are still looking for the driver.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 352-368-7867 and is eligible for a cash reward.