Long Beach police have released a series of videos of the driver who fled a robbery and then threw a liquor store employee who had been hanging onto his vehicle off the hood.
The department released the footage in the hope that members of the public might be of help in identifying the driver.
"I'm asking for justice because... my friend didn't deserve to die like that," Miguel Rodriguez, one of the victim's coworkers, said.
The videos show the robber entering the store and walking around the aisles before approaching the counter. A second video captures the robber's sedan moving on the street, and another one shows the vehicle swerving and the clerk falling off the car's hood.
The video was captured around 10:40 p.m. Thursday in the 300 block of West Anaheim Street, police said.
"In his efforts to stop the thief, he climbed on the hood of the suspect's vehicle," the Long Beach Police Department reported. "The suspect drove with the pedestrian on the hood for approximately three blocks before maneuvering the vehicle to get the pedestrian off the hood."
The man fell onto the eastbound lanes of Anaheim Street, and the driver of a utility van stopped to render aid, police said. Initially, investigators thought the utility van struck the suspect and drove away.
When officers arrived on the scene, they found the man in the eastbound lanes of Anaheim Street just west of Magnolia Avenue.
The victim, who was in his 50s, died at the scene, likely from injuries sustained by being thrown from the hood of the car, according to police. The coroner's office will determine the official cause of death.
"All over some underwear and a few shirts. It was all for that that he followed him," the victim's coworker Luis Carapia said, referencing what he said the suspect tried to steal.
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The victim's name was withheld, pending notification of his relatives.
The robber's vehicle was described as a silver four-door sedan, driven by a Black man about 40 years of age, about 5-feet-7 inches tall, with a thin build, short dark hair and mustache. He was wearing a black short-sleeved shirt and blue jeans.
Anyone with information on the case was urged to call police at 562- 570-7355 or 562-570-7244. Tipsters can also call Crime Stoppers at 800-222- 8477.
