By Emily Nipps, Times Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
ST. PETERSBURG — Police investigators, frustrated by a lack of leads in a hit-and-run accident that killed a bicyclist on Fourth Street N earlier this month, issued a public plea Wednesday for information that could help solve the case.
Neil Alan Smith, 49, was struck Sept. 12 and died about a week later.
Police say they have few leads and only sketchy descriptions of the car that struck Smith.
"We've gotten no phone calls,'' Mike Jockers, a traffic homicide investigator, said during a news conference at the site of the crash. "We need help.''
Witnesses said Smith was struck from behind by a white, mid 1990s Ford Taurus or Mercury Sable with tinted windows. Smith was thrown from the bike into a pole. The car sped away.
Smith was just blocks from his home when he was hit as he pedaled south on Fourth Street N near 73rd Avenue N about 11 p.m., police said.
A dishwasher at the Crab Shack Restaurant, 11400 Gandy Blvd., Smith was riding home from work, employees there said. He worked there 10 years, Jockers said. Smith is survived by a sister in Haverhill, Mass.
Smith "was doing everything he was supposed to do'' the night he was struck, Jockers said. He was wearing light-colored clothing, and his bike had a light in front and a flashing light on the back. He was not wearing a helmet, Jockers said, but it likely would not have helped because he struck the base of his skull on a pole, suffering internal decapitation.
Jockers said he has investigated only a few hit-and-run accidents that went unsolved. Usually a family member of the hit-and-run driver steps forward, he said. But in this case, police have had little or no help.
The car would have been damaged in the front, Jockers said. Police showed white paint that the car left behind at the scene.
Emily Nipps can be reached at nipps@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8452.