'Family's protector' left for dead in Gainesville after hit-and-run driver refuses to stop

GAINESVILLE, Ga. - Gainesville police need your help finding the driver who hit and killed a pedestrian on McEver Road Monday night.

Officers say Omer Herman Lee Morris was walking down that street near its intersection with Spring Road in Gainesville at around 8:30 p.m. when he was hit by a black SUV pulling a small trailer.

The driver left him for dead.

"He had swelling on the brain, his neck had been broken, multiple fractures to the spine, a broken pelvis. His spleen had ruptured. He didn't look like my brother," Breeana Starling said.

Morris was Starling’s older brother, and she said Lee was a strong person, her family’s protector.

She lives in Texas, but was able to video call her aunt who rushed to the hospital after learning he was hit.

"He looked so frail laying in that bed. And that's just not how my brother is. He was so strong," Starling said Saturday through tears.

(Credit; Gainesville Police Department)

Gainesville Police posted a video to their Facebook page Friday showing the SUV pulling a small trailer that they say hit and killed Morris.

The video is grainy, but they say it’s all they were able to find of the vehicle.

Lt. Kevin Holbrook with the Gainesville Police Department said they're hoping someone can tell them who the vehicle belongs to.

"Look for a black SUV with some damage to the front. It was pulling a trailer, a small single axle trailer. It's hard to tell what kind, but there was something in the back of that trailer," Holbrook said.

Starling says her brother deserves justice.

"The man, the woman, whomever that ran over my brother just left him there to die with no regard. It’s like he was an animal on the street, and he wasn’t. He was somebody that was loved by many people. Many people," Starling said.

Starling hopes anyone with information that can help police find the driver will put themselves in her shoes.

"If it was your brother or your father or your best friend, just anybody that you care about, wouldn't you want someone to step up and say something?" she said.

If you do have information, you’re asked to call the Gainesville Police Department at 770-536-8812, or you can submit information to them online.