Well, really, killed by the DRIVER of a white Porsche. Anyone we know? If so, please call the Fort Lauderdale police department. I'm serious- this is SO wrong!
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FORT LAUDERDALE - Police looking for the driver of a white Porsche that hit and killed two pedestrians along State Road A1A near the beach today say they are looking at surveillance video they hope will help them.
Upon the suspect's capture, police plan to verify whether the driver was racing with another white sports car, as a witness described to police.
Both cars, which witnesses saw going at a fast speed, fled.
The pedestrians -- two British visitors visiting Broward County -- were killed outside the Courtyard by Marriott hotel, where they were staying, a hotel manager said.
Police said the men were possibly in their 30s, but withheld the identities or addresses pending notification of next of kin.
The hit-and-run incident occurred about 2:30 a.m. as the sports cars roared down State Road A1A, also known in that stretch of road as Seabreeze Boulevard.
"They were going really fast," said Abdias Laloi, 23, a cashier at a nearby 7-Eleven store. "They were going so fast I couldn't even see what kind of cars they were, just two white cars."
One of the cars, a white Porsche, lost control as it headed southbound, swerved onto the sidewalk on the east side of the road and struck the two men in the back as they walked southbound near the Courtyard by Marriott hotel, at 440 Seazbreeze Blvd., Martinez said.
"I heard a big crash," Laloi said. "By the time I went out there, I didn't see any cars."
But a security guard at the hotel responded and found the men's bodies in a grassy area by the sidewalk in front of the hotel, Martinez said.
Police were reviewing surveillance footage retrieved from the hotel, she said.
The crash happened just south of Las Olas Boulevard on State Road A1A, a two-lane, one-way street. Its northbound lanes are on a separate road a block away.
One witness who saw the speeding cars may have called police after the accident: The person described one of the cars' headlights being out, Martinez said.
Police found the Porsche abandoned a short time later on the northbound ramp from Interstate 595 to Interstate 95. Police searched for the driver with police dogs, but no one was found.
"We don't know if the driver fled on foot or someone picked the person up," Martinez said.
The vehicle had front-end damage, and the driver's side area of windshield was smashed.
Laloi said the scene was upsetting.
"Yeah, of course, I was scared," Laloi said.
Carlos Carrasco, 39, a gym instructor at nearby Zoo Health Club, arrived in the pre-dawn hours and saw officers had closed a two-block stretch of the road. They were diverting traffic, and an ambulance was on the scene.
Carrasco figured it was a fatal accident.
"I was shocked. I couldn't believe it," he said. "The pedestrians probably didn't see it coming."
Despite the lively nightclub atmosphere along Fort Lauderdale beach, the roadway tends to start having lighter traffic past 2 a.m., said Jason Wedge, 25.
Wedge, who teaches diving at the Pro Dive business near the accident site, wondered whether the victims were tourists.
If so, "they were here to have a good time and then, this happens," he said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Fort Laudedale Traffic Homicide Investigator Sandra Knutten at 954-828-5460 or CrimeStoppers at 954-493-TIPS.
