DC woman who witnessed boyfriend's brutal hit-and-run death remembers him 2 years later: 'He was so caring'
WASHINGTON - Two years after a doctor was hit and killed by a driver who stole his car off of a Northwest D.C. street, family and loved ones are still hoping to find the suspect who viciously ran down Rakesh Patel and sped away.
Patel was a 33-year-old Medical Intensive Care Unit Fellow at MedStar Washington Hospital Center.
"From the stories that I’ve heard, he was an amazing doctor and he took extra time to listen to you and to care for you," Patel’s girlfriend Rachel Lincoln told FOX 5’s Jacqueline Matter in the new FOX Local special, ‘District of Carjacking: The Doctor’s Last Drive.’
He was visiting his girlfriend at her home and left his car running as he hopped out to quickly say hi and drop something off.
"It was 8 p.m. on a Tuesday and he double-parked, just to stop by for a second after work. I hadn’t seen him all week and he gave me the longest hug," Lincoln said. "It was so tight, and I even tried to pull away to look at him but I couldn’t and he wouldn’t let me go."
But that’s when the chaos began.
"Out of the corner of your eye, you see the car rolling, and he said, ‘oh my God, my car.’ And he ran down to the corner," Lincoln said. "I think, I can only assume, that he thought what I thought and that was that the brake went out. And he was the type of person where he would run after it because he wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt."
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Patel went running after the car, trying to stop it. When he caught up to the vehicle at the intersection of 18th Street and Florida Avenue, NW, Lincoln watched in horror as the driver sped up and slammed into Patel killing him instantly.
"This driver, this murderer, he just crushed Rakesh’s beautiful eyes into the intersection. It was just a black nothingness. And that sickening crunch that dozens of people heard…he cracked open his skull," Lincoln said. "You don’t imagine seeing the beautiful peachy pink swirls of the brain of the person you love most on a Tuesday at 8."
Dr. Rakesh Patel
Lincoln says the driver never slowed down or stopped. They simply plowed through the intersection, never looking back.
"This guy that chose to steal his car chose to blast through the intersection and chose to hit Rakesh with all four tires," she said. "The man that jumped into his car for a joyride didn’t hesitate to shatter him to pieces."
Police responded minutes later and discovered the gruesome scene.
"I asked even one of the detectives, ‘did he just die?’ Even though I’m standing 10 feet from his open skull," said Lincoln. "He couldn’t even answer. He just looked down and shook his head."
Patel’s silver Mercedes was found on Roxanna Road, NW, the next day. It was just five miles away from the intersection where Patel was brutally killed.
"I mean, they ran him over and left him dead in the street," his sister, Maya Patel told FOX 5. "It turns your entire world upside down to lose someone in this way."
A neighbor told FOX 5 that he saw two men park the stolen car Tuesday night. He said he called D.C. Police Wednesday morning to report the car as suspicious but he was transferred to parking enforcement rather than an investigator.
"Three or four guys came up in two different cars and parked the Mercedes here in front of the house, and then they got out, and they got in another car and left," said John, the neighbor who asked we not use his last name.
RELATED: New surveillance video shows suspects in a deadly car theft returning to clean the stolen vehicle
Video obtained by FOX 5 shows them walking back and forth with what appears to be cleaning products and at one point, a suspect walks away from the stolen car with what looks like floor mats.
Right now, police still have no new leads, and say it appears the suspect just wanted to go for a joyride. Patel’s family and loved ones say the worst part is knowing that the criminal is still out there.
"It makes it hard to walk down the street and wonder, ‘is that the guy that did it? Is that the guy that did it? And I don’t do that every day anymore but, they’re still out there," Lincoln said.
"He needs to think about it: what did he achieve? Did he get anything out of it? No, he didn’t get anything. He just took a life for nothing," Rakesh's father, Rajnikant, told FOX 5.
Now, loved ones say all they can do is try to hold on to the precious memories they have with the man they describe as kind and generous, who dedicated his life to saving and caring for others.
"Anyone you talk to, his friends, they would just tell you how above and beyond he would go for anyone," his girlfriend said. "He was so caring and so kind, and he was so compassionate."
"Rakesh was the baby. He was the best of the five of us," sister Seema McDonald said.
"The violent part of it is the hardest part of losing Rakesh. Just, how horrendously he was taken from us."
And hope that justice will come in time.
"Maybe it takes the cops 50 years to catch them…whether you believe in God or karma, they will pay for it," Lincoln said. "You don’t get over it. You learn to live with it."