A street food vendor was hospitalized after being violently struck by a hit-and-run driver in Fontana.
The victim, Yasmini Camacho, 40, was crossing the road while pushing his food cart near Arrow Route and Hemlock Avenue around 9:10 p.m. on Aug. 3.
Camacho had been selling corn and shaved ice from his cart when a driver struck him before speeding away from the scene.
Camacho was left lying on the street with serious head, leg and ear injuries. He said he doesn’t remember much of what happened that night, only waking up in pain in the hospital the next day.
“I don’t know why he did this to me,” Camacho said. “I’m just working. I didn’t do anything.”
Camacho said he was able to survive the terrifying incident thanks to the help of two good Samaritans.
“All I saw was a big pile of smoke,” said Adrian Garcia, a witness who stopped to help. “As I’m looking at the box, I see the man lying down right there and I’m wondering, ‘Oh my God, is he dead?’”
Garcia and his girlfriend, Mikaela Montanez, were driving by the area when they witnessed the crash and called 911. They ran over to help Camacho who was lying in the middle of the road. His food cart was completely mangled and destroyed from the crash.
“I go to the man and flip him over just to make sure he’s still breathing and he was just bleeding everywhere,” Garcia recalled. “Bleeding from his head, bleeding from his ear.”
“I was hoping we didn’t lose him right there and he wouldn’t die in my boyfriend’s arms,” Montanez said.
Camacho was since released from the hospital and is recovering at home, but is still unable to walk. He said every time he tries to move his body, he feels sharp pains everywhere.
His family is anxiously awaiting more information from authorities about the hit-and-run driver and any developments on the case.
Garcia and Montanez hope Camacho will receive the justice he deserves.
“You need to turn yourself in,” Garcia said to the suspect. “That’s not cool what you’ve done at all. How can you even live with yourself?”
The good Samaritans said it was heartbreaking to see how many bystanders stopped to take pictures of the scene instead of helping the victim.
Authorities are investigating the case and looking at any nearby surveillance video that might help identify the hit-and-run driver.
To donate to the GoFundMe set up to help Camacho and his family, click here.