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Witnesses Push For Arrest Of Driver Involved In 4-Year-Old's Death

OAKLAND PARK (CBSMiami) - An Oakland Park man accused of running over a grandmother and her 4-year-old grandson several times hasn't been charged.

Four-year-old Joshua Snyder died Saturday, just after arriving at Broward Health Medical Center. The grandmother, Estelida Morales, has been hospitalized since Saturday evening. Her family told CBS4 News she has a fractured back.

"I just lost my four-year-old son; that's a big piece of my heart gone forever," said Jeff Synder. "What's going to kill me is going home and all his toys and stuff there, clean up his stuff, just sit down and eat dinner (and) there's the one guy missing."

Jeff Synder sent his four-year-old to spend a few days with his grandma, he never thought he'd never see him again.

Saturday evening, Joshua was standing in the front yard of his grandmother's home on the 700 block of NW 42 Street in Oakland Park. That's when neighbors said an SUV deliberately rammed a car. The driver of the SUV, Deliverance Delien, was visiting someone in the neighborhood, said police. Neighbors said Delien was upset when he reversed into someone's yard, rolling over Joshua and his grandmother.

"From what I'm understanding, they were stuck under the car," said Synder. "He ran them over multiple times."

Neighbors tells CBS4 Delien saw the boy and grandmother were standing there. The SUV finally got stuck in the mud. Neighbors said it looked like Delien, was going to run away. A neighbor pulled Delien out of the driver's seat and told CBS4 he physically held him down until police arrived.

"I don't understand how the guy is free," said Synder. "He didn't even go to jail at all, didn't even get arrested."

The Broward Sheriff's Office hasn't commented on why Delien wasn't taken into custody Saturday. A public information officer for the department says traffic homicide investigators try to work within a 90-day window but some cases take longer depending on the particulars of the case. The Broward Sheriff's Office said the case is under investigation and the 65-year-old driver could still face charges.

Neighbors, like Kathreen Gilbert, worry that may be too late.

"This isn't being taken care of like it should," said Gilbert. "Now there's a chance this guy could flee."

Gilbert not only saw the whole thing happen. She was hit by the SUV as she tried to pull Joshua out of the way.

"They didn't get a report from me the way that they could have," said Gilbert.

CBS4 interviewed her Sunday night. Detectives with the Broward Sheriff's Office went by her place today asking for her account of events.

Watch the report, click here.

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