Cyclist Seeks Driver Who Left Him to Bleed

Cody Picard's knee cap was split in a hit-and-run crash in Oceanside

An Oceanside man hit while riding his bike wants to find the driver who left him to bleed after he screamed for help.

The morning of March 19, Cody Picard, 23, was riding along Oceanside Boulevard when he turned into a parking lot just before the El Camino Real intersection. He veered into an oncoming car and was quickly on the ground.

“I was pretty messed up, and I was screaming for the guy to get out and help me,” said Picard in an interview Tuesday. “And he looked back for like 10, 15 seconds and took his right and drove off." He described the suspect’s vehicle as a silver-colored Jeep Liberty or Patriot.

Lying on the ground, Picard realized his knee cap was split in half, right down the middle, he said.

Picard then turned to other drivers for help, but they just drove by.

“Waving my arms, you know, 'Help, help, I'm injured! Somebody, anybody!’ And nobody would stop,” said Picard. “For like 20 minutes, I was waiting there, and I started actually feeling pretty faint, like I was going to pass out. And then finally, luckily, a CHP officer came by."

Picard was airlifted to the hospital, where he spent the next week undergoing surgery

With the use of a walker and a brace on his right leg, Picard now takes three medications to help him recover.

His case is one in an increasing series of injury hit-and-run crashes, according to Oceanside Police Lt. Leonard Cosby.

Because Picard’s incident happened on private property, the rules of the road don't apply, so both parties would have shared fault if the driver had stayed.

“There's no reason for him to have run,” says Lt. Cosby. “Running makes it bad for you."

Since the suspect did not check to see if Picard was OK, he now faces felony hit-and-run charges.

Picard told NBC 7 he has no anger toward the driver, but he wants him to come forward.

“I just worry that he is danger to other people and maybe he should have his privilege of driving taken away,” says Picard. “You can't just leave someone like that. Where's your humanity?”

Oceanside police are searching for the silver Jeep Liberty or Patriot with possible damage to its front, right fender. They ask anyone who may have witnessed the crash to contact them.

Meanwhile, Picard’s grandfather created a GoFundMe page to pay for his medical bills.

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