'I Was Holding His Hand': Witnesses Tried To Help Hit & Run Crash Victim
DENVER, Colo. (CBS4) - Officers are looking for a hit-and-run driver who ran over a bicyclist, killing him. Police say they have found the suspect vehicle and are processing it for evidence.
The crash happened at 1st and Gilpin early Sunday morning. Bicyclist Drew Dietrich was killed. CBS4's Jennifer Brice talked to a woman who stopped to help him.
"We were one of the first on the scene," says Alisha Beston.
She and her two friends tried to help. Beston says her friend, a nurse, tried to perform CPR on Dietrich, "I told him to take deep breathes and breath in and out of his mouth."
The driver left the scene. The car, a black Fiat 500, was later found in the Cherry Creek Whole Foods parking lot.
Beston says she doesn't know how a person could leave after hitting another human, "I hope they turn themselves in because living life with that guilt is going to tear them apart."
Stephen Schmidt was also with Dietrich, 27, when he died. He is a close friend. He says Drew is one of the kindest people he's ever known.
"He's the reason why I was able to move out here," says Schmidt. "He would help people no matter what and was a giving person."
Drew was from Virginia. His friends started this GoFundMe page to help with funeral costs and to bring Drew back home to his family.
Beston says she wants his family to know there were people with Drew when he died.
"I was holding his hand and he had people trying to comfort him as much as we could," said Beston.
Beston was so shaken by the hit and run that she also started an online petition.
She wants cameras on all streets and intersections, recording 24 hours a day, to catch more hit-and-run drivers and perhaps prevent people from running from the scene.
Dietrich's friends are printing and selling T-shirts to raise awareness about bicycle safety. The money raised will go to helping his family with funeral expenses.
Jennifer Brice is a reporter with CBS4 focusing on crime and courts. Follow her on Facebook or on Twitter @CBS4Jenn.
