CINCINNATI — Police were searching Friday for the driver who hit and killed a Cincinnati grandfather earlier that morning before fleeing the scene. The man's family is pleading with the driver to come forward.
Investigators said a blue Acura or Honda hit Gerard Crumpley, 61, around 4:30 a.m. on Joseph Street in Bond Hill. He was at the edge of his driveway with a bicycle, family members said. It was unclear by Friday afternoon if he was riding the bike or standing with it.
"The bike was stuck under their car," said Crumpley's brother, Greg Crumpley. "The front tire was here with him. They had to get out and take it from out of the car and throw it."
Crumpley's family was working to help gather surveillance video from homes nearby.
Tanya Green said she was walking past and saw her childhood friend on the ground outside his home. She said a neighbor had already called 911.
"He opened his eyes, and I told him just hold on they're on the way," Green said. "They on they way. Because she said she had called 10 minutes before I got here, but it even took 10 more minutes for them to get here. But, I was holding his hand. And then, he just drifted on again, but I was right there. He didn't die by himself."
He lived at the home with his brother, Greg. Family members said the two helped take care of their mother there.
"She has dementia," said Greg. "She's going to ask me a million times, 'What happened? Where’s he at?'."
Crumpley was a father of two, grandfather of seven with three great-grandchildren and three surviving siblings.
"Everybody around here knew him because he was ... Mr. Fix-It," said Greg. "Everything everybody needed, he did it."
The family said they want the city to install speed bumps on Joseph Street to protect others.
"They put them on the next street, but they never got here," said Greg Crumpley.
Police said if you see a blue Honda or Acura with front-end damage, that could be the car involved in this crash.
Call investigators at 513-352-2514.
