Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

Police are searching for a hit and run driver who hit a child trying to cross the street Wednesday night.

“He was unconscious on the ground,” said Janetta Burns, the boy’s mother. Police said, 9-year-old Brandon Burns was walking alone near 64th Street and Northwest Seventh Avenue when the driver hit him. The impact sent the boy close to 75 feet into the air. “You left my baby out on the street like if he was a dog, like you didn’t care,” said Burns.

Witnesses in other cars tried chasing down the suspect, but they could not catch up to the vehicle. “According to witnesses, the vehicle slowed down and then took off and was last seen traveling northbound on Northwest Seventh Avenue,” said Miami Police Sergeant Luis Taborda.

Police are now working to track down the driver. “I’m asking the offender, this is a child, turn yourself in,” said Taborda.

Paramedics rushed the boy to Jackson Memorial Hospital where he is listed in serious condition. Now, his mother is asking anyone with any information to come forward. “Whoever chased them, they might know the tag number. They need to come forward and tell us because my child is in the hospital,” said Burns. “He’s screaming, he’s crying, and he was unconscious when we came to the scene.”

Police are looking for a newer model black Nissan Maxima with dark tinted windows that has front-end damage.

Meanwhile, Burns just wants answers. “I can’t understand how they could sleep at night knowing they hit a child. They don’t know if the child is dead, and they’re just gone, like they don’t care.”

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Police have arrested a 24-year-old woman responsible for a hit and run crash that left a South Florida grandmother fighting for her life.

At 9:05 Tuesday night, Jocelyn Glinton turned herself in at the Hollywood Police station. Shortly after, detectives recovered a late 90s model Lexus with front-end damage in the parking lot of an apartment complex near Interstate 95 and Broward Boulevard. Police said it is the same vehicle that was involved in the crash.

Meanwhile, 60-year-old Jo-Ann Snyder Salzlein remains in critical condition at Memorial Regional Hospital.

The incident occurred at around 5 p.m. Monday, along 441 and Filmore Street. Witnesses said the driver of a white Lexus struck Salzlein’s Kia jeep and caused it to rollover, severing her arm. “The lady’s face was bloody, and her arm was bleeding profusely,” said a man only identified as “Rick,” whose car was also struck at the scene. “It was pretty serious. I just hope she’s OK.”

Police said, Glinton fled after briefly pausing at the scene. “We have a witness account that the driver did in fact get out, look back at the accident scene, re-enter the vehicle and then flee,” said Hollywood Police Lieutenant Manny Marino, “so this person obviously knew that she was involved in some type of incident.”

It took rescuers more than 15 minutes to extract Salzlein. Paramedics transported her to Memorial Regional Hospital with severe injuries. “She’s got major injuries to her head,” said Salzlein’s son, John Salzlein. “She lost her left arm from the bicep down. She’s got broken ribs and a fractured neck. To see her like that, it’s surreal. It’s like a bad dream that you can’t wake up from.”

Sue Hicks was watching the aftermath of the accident Monday afternoon on TV when she realized her friend of nearly 30 years was injured at the scene. “This is not right that you’re causing all this heartbreak and all this pain for all these people that I know and love so much,” she said to the driver, then at large, through tears.

Family and friends were in disbelief that someone would drive off and not offer help. “They have these hit and run drivers. I hate that because I think you should take responsibility for what you do,” said Hicks. “Whoever you hit, you’re going to cause heartache for a lot of people that you don’t even know.”