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Driver Strikes Oakland Bartender In Hit-And-Run Caught On Camera

OAKLAND (KPIX 5) – The Oakland Police Department is looking for a driver who plowed into a bartender and left the scene, in an incident caught on surveillance video.

Bryant Mendoza was leaving his job at the Shadow Lounge near 13th and Harrison early Sunday morning when the incident took place.

"I stepped outside to go walk across the street to my car like I do every night when I leave there, and that's when it happened," Mendoza told KPIX 5.

Surveillance video shows a Porsche Cayenne SUV making a wide, unsteady turn onto 13th Street. Moments later, the vehicle hit Mendoza. "I realized it was too late, so I braced myself for impact," he said.

The video showed Mendoza trying to get out of the way, but he rolls onto the Porsche's hood and falls to the ground. The driver pauses for a moment before taking off.

"I just can't believe they don't have enough love for their human brother to go out and see if they're ok, if they're even alive," Mendoza said.

The crash left Mendoza with a fractured pelvis, a broken femur, and intense pain. Doctors had to surgically insert a titanium rod in his leg.

"So I've got a couple screws in here, a couple screws up here," he said.

For Mendoza, the mounting medical bills are also painful. He will be off the job for months and does not have medical insurance. He hopes that the person behind the wheel will come clean.

Bryant Mendoza
Bryant Mendoza, a bartender at the Shadow Ultra Lounge in Oakland, recovers after being struck by a hit-and-run driver on the morning of November 24, 2013. (CBS)

The Porsche Cayenne SUV is in a darker color with tinted windows. Mendoza said there may have been windshield damage to the vehicle that hit him.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the Oakland Police Department.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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