Cyclist badly injured in St. Pete hit-and-run crash

ST. PETERSBURG (FOX 13) - Police have found the car that may be responsible for a hit-and-run in St. Pete.  Meanwhile, Connor Bolton is still in critical condition after being hit head-on while on a bicycle Saturday night.

The 23-year-old has gone through several surgeries and has a number of broken bones.

“I was at home and already in bed when the police came at 11 o’clock,” said his mother, Martha Bolton. “They drove me to the hospital.”

Bolton, a college student, was hit by an SUV.   He was headed eastbound, against traffic, in the 1st Avenue North bike lane.

The driver stopped momentarily after the head on collision, but left.

“Left the scene and did so not knowing if my son was alive or dead,” said Martha Bolton.

Witnesses told police it was a red or maroon SUV.  Sunday morning, police got another tip and found a Chevy Tahoe that had front-end damage.

It was consistent with what police would expect to find after that kind of crash.

“Sometimes it might just be an accident, it might not be; it depends on the circumstances,” said Yolanda Fernandez of the St. Petersburg Police Department. “You can’t ever leave the scene of an accident.”

Bolton’s mother said he was slowly improving, but was still in the ICU. She expects several surgeries and many months of care.

Indeed, a wedding he’d planned with his fiancé for three months from now will have to be postponed indefinitely.

“He certainly didn’t deserve to have this happen,” said his mother. “He was supposed to be starting this week so he was excited about that. Now he has two broken femurs and a cracked skull.”

Police have interviewed the owner of the vehicle and say he was cooperative to a point.

However, the first thing they need to prove is whether the car they found is definitely the car involved.