MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — State troopers are getting close to figuring out who was driving the van in a violent hit-and-run crash captured on video.
“It's probably embedded in my mind and will be there forever,” said Michael Kelley, whose son, Jack, is in critical condition after the crash.
The video shows his son’s Audi get sideswiped by a minivan turning in front of it on U.S. 41 Thursday morning in Manatee County. The impact sent the Audi flipping through a hotel parking lot. In the video, you see the driver of the 2003 Kia Sedona minivan wait a few seconds, then take off.
Investigators said they have found the van. Now, they hope it leads them to the driver.
“It's the call you get that you never want to get,” Kelley said.
Michael Kelley said he wants the focus to be on his son, the innocent victim of a hit-and-run crash. Jack Kelley is a former high school basketball standout.
The college freshman was just driving to a class. He's still in critical condition at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, but his dad said doctors are cautiously optimistic.
“When you go in and look at him on the bed, it is clearly the hardest thing that a parent could ever do,” Kelley explained.
He is thankful for the community's support and for law enforcement working the case. He's asking anyone who knows the driver to come forward.
“He stopped and watched it and saw that car flip so violently and didn't stay? He's not going to turn himself in,” Kelley said.
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