Pompano Beach Man Found Dead in Swale, Deputies Hunt Hit-and-Run Driver

A man was found dead in a grass swale in Pompano Beach Monday morning, his injuries consistent with being struck by a vehicle, and Broward Sheriff's Office detectives are now searching for a driver who fled the scene. Deputies responded shortly after 8 a.m. to a report of a man lying in the swale in the 700 block of Southwest 10th Drive, where he was pronounced dead.

Authorities have not identified either the pedestrian or the driver involved, according to the Miami Herald. Detectives with the Broward Sheriff's Office said the crash may not have happened where the man was found, raising the possibility that he was struck at a different location before ending up in the swale. No description of the suspect vehicle has been released.

Detectives Piece Together a Scene That Doesn't Add Up

The gap between where the man was found and where the crash may have actually occurred is one of the central puzzles facing investigators. That uncertainty, paired with the lack of any vehicle description, leaves the case largely dependent on forensic evidence and tips from the public rather than an obvious trail for detectives to follow.

Cases like this one typically fall to the Broward Sheriff's Office Traffic Homicide Unit, which is dispatched to lead fatal and critical-injury crash investigations and takes charge of forensic evidence collection, crash reconstruction and follow-up on complex leads, as Hoodline has reported before. Anyone with information has been asked to contact BSO Detective Mike Wiley at 954-321-4841.

A Legal Deadline Working Against the Driver

Whoever fled the scene is now facing a serious legal clock. Under Florida's Aaron Cohen Life Protection Act, leaving the scene of a crash that results in death is a first-degree felony carrying a mandatory minimum four-year prison sentence, up to 30 years behind bars, and a mandatory three-year driver's license revocation, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Under a separate statute, prosecutors only need to prove that a driver knowingly fled a fatal collision to bring that charge, regardless of whether the driver caused the crash or was driving recklessly, per the Brancato Law Firm.

The case adds to a grim tally for Broward County, which recorded 11,301 hit-and-run crashes in 2025 resulting in 2,392 injuries and 25 deaths, according to Fort Lauderdale crash data. Pedestrians and cyclists bore a disproportionate share of that toll statewide, accounting for 76% of Florida's hit-and-run fatalities in 2023 — 159 pedestrians and 47 cyclists among 271 total deaths, per state highway safety data. More than 81% of those fatal hit-and-run crashes happened during nighttime, dawn or dusk hours, when visibility for both drivers and pedestrians drops sharply.

Part of a Troubling Pattern Across Northern Broward

This is not an isolated incident for the region. Just over a week earlier, a driver fled after hitting a man in Deerfield Beach, leaving him fighting for his life, and days after that, a driver in neighboring Lighthouse Point fled after slamming into a scooter rider, with both cases transferred to BSO traffic homicide detectives. Pompano Beach itself has seen this before, too — Hoodline reported in January 2025 that a Coral Springs man was charged in a New Year's Eve fatal hit-and-run in the city after a driver struck and killed a man riding a scooter.

Broward trails only Miami-Dade County in total pedestrian crashes statewide, with preliminary data showing 1,238 pedestrian-involved crashes in the county in 2025 that resulted in 56 deaths and 1,115 injuries, according to USA Today. The broader Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach metro area ranks 14th among the most dangerous metro regions in the country for pedestrians, per Smart Growth America's national safety index.

How the Public Can Help

Anonymous tipsters can contact Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS (8477), submit information online at BrowardCrimeStoppers.org, or use the SaferWatch app. Tips that lead to a felony arrest in a hit-and-run investigation can earn a cash reward of up to $3,000. Official crash reports in Florida remain confidential for 60 days following an incident except to involved parties, insurers and authorized representatives, which is why detailed findings from this case may not surface publicly for some time.