‘Beautiful’ father, carer Tony Plati killed in Freshwater hit-and-run
A man who was the full-time carer of his 103-year-old mother was killed in a hit-and-run accident while on his daily walk on Sydney’s northern beaches. Police say they are making inroads on identifying the car involved.
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Every morning, Tony Plati walked the same route from his home to the beach.
He’d make sure he was back by 9am to help his 103-year-old mother, whom he cared for full time, out of bed.
So when he didn’t return from his early morning stroll through Freshwater on Saturday, his family panicked.
He was found severely injured and lying in the middle of the road on Oliver St about 5.45am after being struck in a suspected hit-and-run.
Police are now trawling through CCTV footage from nearby homes in a bid to pinpoint the car that struck Mr Plati, aged in his 60s, and left him for dead less than 400m from his home.
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A resident of Oliver St has told police she heard two people arguing about whether to “stop or go” minutes after Mr Plati was hit.
“We think it was possibly a hit-and-run,” Northern Beaches police Detective Chief Inspector Michael Boutouridis said.
“But given it was dark and raining at the time and the man was wearing dark clothing, there is a good chance if it was a hit-and-run the driver was unaware they were involved in a collision.”
Mr Plati suffered traumatic injuries but when a tradie found him, he was still breathing.
Jill Farrell, who lives across the road, ran outside with blankets and umbrella to shield the victim from the rain.
“He was clearly badly injured but still alive and fighting for his life at that point in time,” she said.
“The sad thing is that he had been left alone on the road, a busy road in the middle of the night, which is really sad.”
Paramedics worked on him at the scene and on route to Royal North Shore Hospital but he died on arrival.
Distraught family members turned up to the scene yesterday after reading about a description of the victim on the local police Facebook page.
They broke down on the street corner as police and residents recounted what had happened.
The former fruiterer and father-of-one retired to care for his elderly mother and had lived in the Northern Beaches area for many years.
He never took his wallet or phone on his morning walks and that initially made it difficult for police to identify him.
All he had in his pocket were the keys to his house and some cash.
Crash investigators yesterday copied CCTV from a home on Oliver Street in the hope it captured the collision.
“All we have really is a passer by that found him and told us immediately,” Insp Boutouridis said.
“He was still alive, just, at the time.
“We are doing a canvass to see if anyone has footage in the area, we might have made inroads already but it is still early.”
Det Insp Boutouridis said there was a good chance police would identify the driver and urged them to come forward.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.