Pictured: Father, 62, who died while on his morning walk after being hit by a heartless driver who fled the scene – as his 103-year-old mother waited for him to return home
- Former fruiterer Toni Plati was hit by a car during his early morning walk
- He was known to talk walks in Freshwater in Sydney’s Northern Beaches
- The 62-year-old dad-of-one was a full-time carer for his 103-year-old mother
A man who was left to die alone in the street by a cruel hit-and-run driver has been identified as dad-of-one Tony Plati.
The 62-year-old former fruiterer was known to take a walk every morning in Sydney’s Northern Beaches before going to care for his 103-year-old mother.
He cared for her full-time, and usually arrived at her house before 9am every day to help get her out of bed.
When he didn’t turn up on Saturday morning, his family started to panic.
Mr Plati was found injured in the road in Freshwater by two tradesman, according to the Daily Telegraph, at around 5.54am.
Father-of-one and former fruiterer Tony Plati, 62, (pictured) died after being hit by a car in Freshwater on Saturday morning
One rushed straight to Mr Plati’s aid – who was still breathing at the time – while the other diverted on-coming traffic away from his body.
Paramedics arrived, but Mr Plati died on his way to hospital.
Police are now searching CCTV to find the car which hit Mr Plati and left him for dead – less than 400m from his own house.
One local resident said they heard two voices arguing over ‘whether to stop or go’ just after he was hit.
‘We think it was possibly a hit-and-run,’ Northern Beaches police Detective Chief Inspector Michael Boutouridis said.
The 62-year-old was hit and left for dead by a car in Freshwater (pictured) on Saturday morning
‘But given it was dark and raining at the time and the man was wearing dark clothing, there is a good chance if it was a hit-and-run the driver was unaware they were involved in a collision.’
Nearby resident Jill Farrell said: ‘He was clearly badly injured but still alive and fighting for his life at that point in time.
‘The sad thing is that he had been left alone on the road, a busy road in the middle of the night, which is really sad.’
His upset family and friends arrived at the scene later on in the morning.
‘We’ve thrown significant resources at this,’ DCI Boutouridis said.
‘There is a good chance we will identify them. We do have some footage (which) may have captured the incident.’