MIAMI – Frank Melendez says he experienced a close call Tuesday morning during a hit-and-run crash on the Airport Expressway near Miami.
Melendez, who works as a photographer for Local 10, says he was driving into work — heading east on State Road 112 — when he was rear-ended by the driver of a red car near Northwest 22nd Avenue.
While Melendez wasn’t hurt, he says as soon as he got out of the car to inspect the damage, he noticed the other driver getting ready to take off.
“I literally put my hands on the hood to move out of the way of the car and, yeah, she would have got me if I didn’t react quickly,” he said. “Of course you’re nervous. ... You’re thinking, ‘Wow, she’s ready to run me over over a fender bender.’”
Melendez snapped some photos from the scene.
“As soon as I got out of the car, she was continuing backing up, and I kind of got the feeling that something was going to go wrong, and when she saw me taking photos, she darted out in the other lane, didn’t even look,” he said.
While another driver was able to get the woman’s license plate, at last check, troopers say no arrests have been made.
Melendez is just glad to be able to walk away.
“It was a pretty simple fender bender, but she just wanted to get out of there,” he said. “Hopefully they can catch her and she comes to justice for what she’s done.”
If you have any information or recognize the woman in the red car, you are urged to contact the Florida Highway Patrol at 850-617-2302.