A man was killed Sunday at 6:30 a.m. after being struck and dragged underneath an SUV after the motorist hit him as he rode his bicycle in northern Miami-Dade, according to Miami-Dade Police Traffic Homicide.
Witnesses told police that the driver dragged the victim 50 feet and stopped twice in an attempt to dislodge him from underneath his Dodge Durango.
"I thought he hit a mail box," one witness told WSVN, "and he was revving the engine like something was stuck underneath," adding " you can tell he saw what he did because he stopped." Watch the video above for more of her eye-witness account.
Police report the driver eventually sped off from the scene, leaving the unidentified cyclist to die.
Authorities are looking for a 2011 Dodge Durango, light in color, and with front-end damage. See the police flyer below.
Neighbors told WSVN that the victim was known as Alex, and he was returning from the grocery store with a loaf of bread in his hand when he was struck and killed.
UPDATE: Police have identified the victim as Alejandro Hermis, age 50.
Unfortunately, fatal hit-and-run stories are far too common in South Florida. Just Friday night, a woman was struck and killed near downtown Miami as she walked to her car after dinner.
Frustration among residents is brewing.
As Transit Miami tweeted out over the weekend:
Likewise blogger Miami Urbanist tweeted his frustration about the mayor's omission of the problem in his recent State of the City address:
Check out the Miami biking community's Twitter reactions when the driver who struck and killed cyclist Aaron Cohen was sentenced: