The father of a tourist from Los Angeles who was struck by a car in New Orleans' French Quarter and dragged more than six miles across a Mississippi River bridge is appealing for the driver of the vehicle to turn himself in.
Twenty-eight-year-old Joshua Woodruff died in the crash. Police believe he was hit at about 3:15 a.m. on New Year's Day by a black sedan.
At a Friday news conference with New Orleans police, Woodruff's parents, Mark and Caren Woodruff, appealed for witnesses to come forward. Mark Woodruff said anyone driving or riding in the car that hit his son should come forward and clear his conscience.
Woodruff's family and the Crimestoppers organization offered a $10,000 reward in the case. Woodruff, an Omaha, Nebraska, native, lived in Los Angeles.
"We are ripped to shreds," the victim's mother, Caren Grizzle, told New Orleans TV station WDSU earlier this month.
The Harvard University graduate was working as director of customer strategy for a startup company in Los Angeles. He was celebrate the new year in New Orleans with a friend, family members said.
Detectives, who viewed more than 50 surveillance videos, were able to piece together the route the driver took after the crash. Woodruff was standing near a sidewalk, waiting for an Uber pick-up, when he was struck and became lodged in the car.
The driver continued on several streets before entering Interstate 10 and crossed the Pontchartrain Expressway. The body was dislodged just before the General De Gaulle Drive exit -- about six miles from the site of the crash.
