HOLIDAY, FL (WFLA/WBTW) – An elderly Holiday, Florida man is being questioned about his possible role in a fatal hit-and-run.
It happened in Holiday at about 12:25 p.m. on Moog Road, as the 77-year old victim, Larry Small, attempted to cross a street near his home, riding in a motorized wheelchair.
A witness said a minivan, going way too fast, plowed into the victim’s electric wheelchair at Pinehurst Drive, sending him flying.
“He’s a army veteran when he was younger. And then a professional dog groomer” said Chris Small, the victim’s son.
He is one of three boys left to cope with the tragic loss of their dad. Somebody ran him down at the crosswalk and drove off.
“I understand accidents happen, but hitting elderly veteran that was just going to get a cheeseburger and left him. You’re a scum bag” said Small.
Florida Highway Patrol investigators learned the person who hit Larry Small was driving an older, red Dodge minivan and they found it six blocks away.
They spent hours speaking to the driver, whom they are calling a “person of interest.”
Glenn Zimmermann’s security camera caught the crash on video.
“A westbound red minivan just came out and, going way too fast, and hit him,” said Zimmerman.
He said Small got tossed 40 feet. “Rolled up over the windshield, came down off the windshield and landed head first on the pavement,” said Zimmerman.
What he saw next, made him wonder, who could do such a thing? “The person that hit him stopped at first, for a brief second. I think he backed up a little bit to get around him. And then he literally pulled out and around and took off,” he said.
He never got out. Just drove off. “He could have went out and held Larry’s head up or stopped the bleeding or done something. You don’t know” said Zimmerman.
FHP investigators are working to determine the van driver’s involvement in this fatal crash.
