Man arrested for fatal hit-and-run crash with motorcyclist in Lehigh Acres

A man has been arrested in connection with a hit-and-run crash that killed a motorcyclist on Tuesday night.

Wednesday, the Florida Highway Patrol arrested 31-year-old Leonardo Mendoza and charged him with leaving the scene of a crash involving death and three counts of leaving the scene of a crash involving property damage.

• RELATED: FHP investigating fatal hit-and-run involving motorcyclist

The 26-year-old motorcyclist died after he was struck by a pickup truck in Lehigh Acres near the intersection of Lee Boulevard and Hanna Avenue.

A tipster sent WINK News dashcam of the incident.

In the video, the biker can be seen riding by in the left lane. In the distance, the driver of a white pickup truck pulls out and cuts off the biker knocking him off his motorcycle.

“I won’t forget it. It’s been replaying in my head since,” said the tipster.

She’s a mother and asked WINK News to not show her face.

She says was driving her two little girls home from school the family had no idea what they and their dash camera were about to witness.

“I saw the truck come out, and I was like, “he better speed up before I hit him’,” said the mother. “Then you hear the motorcycle come to the left of me, and then, [I saw] the person flying mid-air across three lanes of traffic.”

Horror, the video alone can not express.

“The sound of the impact and the sound of him landing, just those lifeless thumps on the ground, those just those were hard,” said the mother. “Him leaving makes matters worse for him 100%.”

After an exhaustive criminal investigation that lasted overnight and Wednesday morning, the Florida Highway Patrol Traffic Homicide Unit located and impounded Mendoza’s 2018 Dodge Ram Pickup Truck.

It was discovered with a dented driver’s side quarter-panel and a flat tire.