Lauderdale woman dragged for miles, killed after confronting hit-run driver

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Lauderdale woman dragged for miles, killed after confronting hit-run driver

By Macollvie Jean-François, Brian Haas & Andrew Tran
Sun-Sentinel.com
Posted June 4 2007, 3:02 PM EDT


FORT LAUDERDALE -- The last thing Michael Williams says he heard his wife Sandra Hall say to a hit-and-run driver as she dangled from the hood of a minivan that had struck the couple's car was, "You ain't going nowhere."

Hall, 44, was trying to stop the driver of that van, described as a white Dodge Caravan with partial tag C72, authorities said. Instead, the Caravan dragged her along State Road 7/U.S. 441 for about two miles, from just north of Commercial Boulevard until just north of Prospect Road, killing her around 10 p.m. Sunday.

"It hurts," Williams, 25, said of the death of his wife of five years.

Monday, Hall's loved ones gathered at her mother's home in Fort Lauderdale, grappling with the loss of the vivacious mother-of-two, who cooked enough to feed about 30 people on Sunday afternoon. They begged anyone who might have seen anything to come forward.

"She didn't deserve this," Hall's brother Sylvester Kind, 42, said. "It was just an accident. He didn't have to drag my sisters for miles and miles. We'd be grateful if somebody would come forward."

Anyone with information should call Broward County CrimeStoppers at 954-493-8477.

``They need to solve it before I solve it,'' said Williams.

Broward Sheriff's Office detectives have yet to release a description of the driver, but they said the van reached speeds of 70 mph in the 25-minute altercation.

Their trouble with that driver began at State Road 7 and Riverland Road Sunday night. Here's what happened, according to Williams:

Williams was driving a Cadillac, with Hall in the passenger seat, and Hall's mother Theresa Campbell and sister in the back. They were heading back to their Fort Lauderdale homes from the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino after playing the slots and having a few drinks.

As he drove northbound from Davie, another driver pulled alongside Williams to let him know his headlights were out. Williams said he was pulling into a Shell gas station at the intersection of Riverland Road to see why the headlights were off when the Dodge Caravan slammed into the Cadillac's rearend.

"My mother-in-law said 'Oh, my neck,' " recalled Williams.

He got out to talk to the van's driver, but that man took off immediately.

Williams said he jumped back into the Cadillac and chased the van, calling police to report the hit-and-run.

The Caravan finally stopped at a red traffic light at Oakland Park Boulevard, he said.

Williams got out again to confront its driver. That's when the chase turned tragic.

"My wife got out of the car to go stand in front of him, so he wouldn't go nowhere," Williams said.

But when the traffic light changed to green, the unidentified driver began moving forward again. The van took off again and heard his wife protest, saying, "You ain't going nowhere."

Surprised and horrified, Williams chased the van on foot for a short while and begged the driver to stop so his wife could get off safely.

Then he lost sight of the van.

Detectives say Hall fell off the minivan's hood and got caught in the undercarriage, Sheriff Ken Jenne said at a news conference Monday morning. The driver then dragged her for about two miles, reaching speeds up to 70 mph in the process and weaving between lanes in an attempt to shake her off. He finally left Hall dead in the 1600 block of State Road 7 in North Lauderdale.

The trail of Hall's blood was still visible on parts of the paved roadway on Monday morning.

A bouquet of white roses and balloons now marks the spot where the fatal pursuit ended.

"This violent disregard for life will not be tolerated," Jenne said. "We talk about road rage all the time, but this is a horrific example of road rage at its worst, where someone was purposefully run over."

Staff Writer Juan Ortega contributed to this report. Brian Haas can be reached at [email protected] or 954-356-4597.