Authorities are now trying to track down 60-year-old Cruz Garibaldi. They say he was the driver who struck 9-year-old Sebastian Ruiz last Wednesday night before driving away.
12-year-old Bobby James Wright recalls what happened last week when his friend, Sebastian Ruiz was hit by a car while the two road bikes in the shared driveway of their Madera homes. "We stood on the dirt, not even close to the road and the car just came up and hit him."
Wright and others who witnessed the hit and run crash managed to give investigators a pretty good description of the car. Within days, tips started pouring in. Investigators eventually tracked down the 1992 Buick, parked somewhere in Madera with incriminating evidence. "The antenna was broken off the vehicle, the windshield wiper was missing and also the windshield of the vehicle was shattered on the passenger side." Unfortunately though, the driver was nowhere in sight.
Investigators have made contact with the car's owner, but say his brother, 60-year-old Cruz Garibaldi ... a Madera farm worker ... was using the car that day and that he's the one responsible for the crash. "He could still be in Madera, specifically lavina area; it's down near Avenue 9 and Road 24. If he's not in the Madera area, we believe he may have left the country to Mexico."
Wright and his family hope investigators will find Garibaldi before he's able to get away. But, in order to do that, they say the community's continued support is crucial.
