Search underway for hit-and-run driver who killed man in wheelchair crossing San Bernardino street
Authorities were searching for a driver wanted in connection with a fatal hit-and-run that occurred in San Bernardino on Sunday, which left a man crossing the street in his wheelchair dead at the scene.
"He was a person. That's my brother," said the victim's brother Lester Gatson. "I loved him. He was loved by many."
According to San Bernardino police, the collision occurred at around 4:35 a.m. early Sunday morning near Highland Avenue and Cedar Street. James Gatson, 43, was using his wheelchair to cross East Highland Avenue outside of a crosswalk when he was struck by possibly two vehicles, neither of which stopped.
"How can anyone hit someone and not stop," said sister-in-law Dalene Gatson. It has to be tugging at their heart. You just took an innocent man's life."
Gatson was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities say he was homeless and stayed at the park just across from where he was fatally struck.
His brother also said he was suffering from multiple sclerosis.
Investigators were working to locate surveillance footage from the nearby area in hopes of identifying the vehicle involved in the crash.
Lester pleaded for people's help finding the driver or drivers that killed his brother by posting a large wooden sign near the Perris Hill Tennis Center that read "Help me find my [brother's] killers."
Family and friends created a memorial underneath the large wooden sign.
"They took my uncle away," said niece Krysten Peralta. "I miss him... They took a really good man. He was disabled. He was in a wheelchair. How do you not see that?"
