FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A $3,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest in a fatal hit-and-run crash Thursday night in Fort Lauderdale.
Charles Blackledge, 46, was riding his bicycle home on Dixie Highway near Northeast 16th Court when he was struck by a car and dragged more than 30 feet.
"That's a long way to drag a body, and they left him to die," roommate Thomas Menninger told Local 10 News.
Police went to Blackledge's home Monday to give his relatives the personal items that he had with him when he was killed.
His sister, who traveled all the way from Arkansas to attend Sunday night's vigil at the spot where Blackledge was killed, has a message for the hit-and-run driver.
"Come forward, you know. Take it," Tonya McElveen said. "You killed my brother."
Blackledge is the latest victim in the rising number of hit-and-run crashes in South Florida, which leads the state.
The number of hit-and-run crashes in Miami-Dade and Broward counties has risen each year since 2012.
In 2015, there were 18,345 hit-and-run crashes in Miami-Dade County. Of that number, 41 were fatal.
The numbers were slightly less in Broward County with 10,943 hit-and-run crashes last year -- 15 of them fatal.
"It's sad that we have so many people down here that are willing to leave the scene and just forget about whatever happened and go on with their daily life and live like nothing ever happened," Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Mark Wysocky said.
Fort Lauderdale police have released surveillance video of a silver car that is believed to be responsible in Thursday's crash.
"If they recognize one of the cars, then they'll find who hit my brother -- and at least we'll have justice," McElveen said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Fort Lauderdale police.