Daughter of hit-and-run victim pleads for help to find driver

OAKLAND PARK — A 19-year-old woman is grieving the loss of her mother after the 59-year-old was killed in a hit-and-run crash in Oakland Park last week.

Ariana Cotto hopes someone will come forward with information that could identify the driver and bring them to justice for killing her mom.

“I’m here to bring justice for my mom,” she said Friday at a news conference at the Broward Sheriff ’s Office. “My mom was strong and resilient. She always fought hard for the things she worked for and cared about.”

Her mom, Nancy Vazquez, died on Jan. 14 when she stepped in front of traffic on North Andrews Avenue, according to traffic homicide investigators.

The driver who hit her sped off, said Detective Sherry Slagle-Grant.

“Although the crash was not the fault of the driver and the pedestrian walked into the path of an oncoming vehicle where a driver would not have a reasonable expectation to encounter a pedestrian, the driver needed to remain on scene,” she said.

Detectives recovered damaged car parts that the driver left behind when they fled, including a fog lamp cover and pieces of a headlight lamp cover, Slagle-Grant said. Detectives determined the car is a 2013-2015 black four-door Honda Accord EX.

Video surveillance showed Vazquez walking along the median in the 3800 block of North Andrews shortly after 11 p.m. and then crossing diagonally in the far-left inner thru lane. She was crossing west to east, Slagle-Grant said.

The driver was heading north when the car hit her. A witness who heard the impact but did not see the crash reported seeing a black four-door sedan going north on North Andrews Avenue after the collision, authorities said.

Paramedics took Vazquez to Broward Health Medical Center to be treated for her injuries. She was pronounced dead at 11:37 p.m.

Anyone with information about the hit-and-run should contact Detective Sherry Slagle-Grant at 954-3214843. Anonymous tips can be submitted to Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477 or online at browardcrimestoppers.org.