Friends plead for answers as hit-and-run victim is taken off life support
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The friends of a hit-and-run victim are preparing to say goodbye for the last time.
On March 2, John Decker was struck by a car while riding his bicycle just after 11 p.m. on Sinclair Road near Morse Road. His friends said that on Monday, he’s being taken off life support.
“He was always on his bike or the bus, he loves to ride bikes. That was his thing. He didn’t like cars,” Angela Granata, Decker’s friend, said.
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Columbus police, which declined an interview about Decker’s case, have no updates and said the video footage they have is too blurry to get a description of the car. That’s not uncommon, according to hit-skip incident data NBC4 obtained through a public records request.
In fact, most hit-and-runs that happened in Columbus in the first six months of 2023 went unsolved. In incidents where someone was killed, no cases were solved. Cases in which someone suffered a serious injury were twice as likely to not be solved. and when someone suffered a serious injury, those cases were twice as likely not to be solved.
But the low solve rate is not stopping Decker’s friend from searching for answers.
“We’re all in shock because again, this is not what we thought John, what anyone, would die from and our point to the community is, you gotta help us find who did this,” Granata said. “It’s sad to see someone so full of life just lay there.”
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Granata said she has known Decker for more than 20 years.
“He was such a sweetheart. Highly intelligent, and he knew the value of life and the value of friendship,” she said.
Now, Granata said Decker is being taken off life support. As his friends gather to say goodbye, they are pleading for answers and justice.
“When you see someone on a bicycle or a motorcycle, slow down, let them have the right of way,” Granata said. “It may slow you down a couple seconds, but a life is not worth taking because you’re in a hurry.”
Decker’s friends are offering a $5,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person who hit their friend. Columbus police ask anyone with information
to call 614-645-4767 or submit an anonymous tip to Central Ohio Crime Stoppers by calling 614-461-8477.
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