A man in a wheelchair was killed by a hit-and-run driver as he tried to cross the street in Long Beach. The victim’s family is asking for help identifying the driver. Hetty Chang reports for the NBC4 News at 11 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2015.
A family is asking for the public's help in identifying a hit-and-run driver who fatally struck their loved one in a wheelchair last week.
Jose Guevarra, 55, was killed just before 10 p.m. Friday as he tried to cross Santa Fe Avenue in Long Beach.
Guevarra's family says they can't understand how the driver could live with what they did.
"I hope he has a conscious and that he will come forward," said the victim's brother, James Guevarra.
Guevarra, the oldest of seven siblings, was diabetic. His family said he had snuck out to satisfy a craving for sweets.
Surveillance video captured by a camera at a nearby 76 gas station shows Guevarra stopping in to get a soda. He leaves, then a dark sedan strikes him before he makes it to the other side of the street.
Police say the driver fled, dragging Guevarra's wheelchair for a few blocks and leaving him lifeless in the street.
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"Please come forward," said the victim's sister, Jennifer Guevarra. "We want closure, we want justice for our brother's death."
His family made the difficult decision to take him off life support Sunday, but not before she made a promise.
"I promised him before he took his last breath that we would find justice," Jennifer Guevarra said. "We will find this person that did this to him."
The car that struck Guevarra was believed to be a green sedan, possibly a BMW.
Anyone with information was urged to contact police.
Correction: A previous version of this report incorrectly identified the victim as Joe Guevarra.
