Driver in Fatal Hit-and-Run Asks for Bond

A man involved in a fatal hit-and-run appeared in court Wednesday to ask for bond.

You can see it clearly in the police interrogation video: Axel Inostroza's story falls apart under questioning from detectives.

"I hit him," Inostroza said in the video, which was played Wednesday in open court during the defendant's Arthur hearing, where he asked for bond to get out of jail.

Inostroza admitted that he hit Craig Camlin as Camlin was riding his bike to work last December in the 5200 block of Northeast 18th Avenue.

Camlin was left paralyzed, barely alive, and was rushed to the hospital as a gardening crew found him lying on the ground near Inostroza's apartment. Camlin died in the hospital in February.

A Fort Lauderdale Police traffic homicide investigator testified Wednesday that Inostroza at first denied driving two miles with Camlin resting on the trunk of his car.

In the interrogation video, Inostroza first says he stopped the car and put Camlin in the front seat. Then he claims Camlin was conscious and requested a drink.

Detectives said they knew Inostroza was lying, trying to cover up the fact that he dumped Camlin on the ground by the garbage bin outside his apartment.

"He asked if he was in big trouble, and then a few minutes later he spontaneously uttered that he should've just called the police when he hit the guy on the bicycle, and the guy was bleeding from the head, so he took him back to his house and offered him a beer," testified Jill Hirsch, a traffic homicide investigator with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department.

Hirsch said she could tell from physical evidence at the scene that Inostroza's car never stopped. She also told the judge they tracked him down when a body shop called to say someone was trying to have a front bumper and damaged windshield repaired. There was blood on the bumper. Eventually, Hirsch said, Inostroza broke down and confessed.

"I put the guy on he floor, between the dumpster and the pool," Inostroza admitted in the interrogation video.

Camlin's sister was in court Wednesday, where she was overcome with emotion.

"I'm so sorry for everybody in this whole situation, everybody loses," said Christine Militello, tears flowing down her cheeks.

She said she is heartbroken. Militello said her brother forgave Inostroza before he died, but wishes Inostroza had just driven straight to nearby Holy Cross Hospital after the collision.

"He's ruined his entire life. He ruined his family, my family," she said. "My brother's gone, but forgiveness is just something that if you don't give, you can't go on in life."

She added: "I definitely don't think he should bond out, he should pay for what he did."

The hearing resumes next week.

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