Bainbridge Public Safety Officer Jason Barlow responded to a hit and run early Sunday morning, after a vehicle hit a pedestrian on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and quickly fled the scene.

According to reports, Barlow arrived and found the pedestrian, Valerie Perkins laying on the north side of the street with a compound fracture to her left leg just below the knee. Barlow, along with other officers rendered care to Perkins until EMS could arrive on scene.

Perkins told officers she was walking west down the street when a vehicle struck her from behind.

Following Perkins’ statement, she was taken to Tallahassee for her injuries.

Officers then interviewed witness, Michael Mills, who was in his home at the time of the accident. He told officers he heard a loud crashing noise and ran out to find Perkins yelling in the roadway while injured. Mills was too late to see the vehicle that hit Perkins.

However, officers were able to locate a piece of evidence. They found a broken passenger-side mirror belonging to a silver Hyundai passenger vehicle containing a part number of 4K17.

Deputy Director, Frank Green said this recovered evidence is expected to help them solve the case.

“Leaving the scene of an accident is criminally negligent. They have a responsibility to the civilian,” Green said.

Green is unsure why the driver would flee the scene, but he said he believes it would make good sense that the driver may have had something to hide or was participating in some illegal activity, and he is not ruling out that scenario.

Investigator Larry Funderburke is actively investigating and following up on leads. Anyone with any information regarding the driver is asked to contact him.