Bradenton Beach police officers filed a capias request Oct. 18 seeking misdemeanor charges against Longboat Key resident Robert Goodman for allegedly obstructing justice by resisting an officer and failing to aid a victim after committing a hit-and-run.
An officer arrived in the 2200 block of Gulf Drive in response to a reported hit-and-run and found a crowd of people assisting a man screaming in pain due to injuries sustained when he was hit by a vehicle.
The man was rushed to Blake Medical Center in Bradenton for treatment of multiple lacerations and broken bones.
At the scene, several witnesses with videos of the incident reported that the victim was riding his bicycle in the bike lane when a motorist — later identified as Goodman — swerved his vehicle into the lane and hit the biker from behind.
The victim and his bike were dragged under the vehicle for about 50 feet.
Goodman, 55, reportedly crashed into roadside vegetation and then reversed the vehicle, nearly running over the biker in his attempt to leave.
Witnesses said they blocked the vehicle from running over the injured bicyclist, but Goodman drove away from the scene of the crash after freeing his vehicle from the embankment.
The officer used witnesses’ videos to search the vehicle’s license plate and found that the driver seen in the videos matched the vehicle’s registered owner.
Two BBPD officers went to Goodman’s Longboat Key residence and contacted his parents, who refused to direct the officers to Goodman. They left a number for Goodman to reach them, but he never called.
An officer returned to Goodman’s home hours later and asked his father to contact his son. Goodman’s father called his son, who responded and said he would not meet with the BBPD without a lawyer.
The officer advised Goodman that he was obstructing justice by not complying with a lawful order and that he had committed a crime by failing to aid the biker he hit earlier that day.
Goodman’s lawyer called the BBPD the next day and was told a capias request was sent to the Florida State Attorney for charges against Goodman.