Florida cop’s shocking response to witnesses who asked him to help bicyclist struck in fatal hit-and-run just steps away from Miami Beach Police station

A fatal hit-and-run has cost a Miami police officer his job after he too drove off from the scene, leaving the victim dying in the street.

Esmat Khedr, 63, was riding her electric bicycle past police headquarters in Washington Avenue when she was struck from behind by a blue Ford Bronco which sped off without stopping.

Seconds later frantic onlookers flagged down and alerted Miami Beach police officer Edward Cavalie, 41, who was passing in his squad car, but he told them to find someone else and drove away.

When his colleagues arrived on the scene they were powerless to help the unconscious woman who was later declared dead on arrival in hospital.

The callous officer has been fired, but Khedr’s devastated husband has been left wondering whether his wife might still be alive if Cavalie had bothered to help.

‘Every day he’s taking his lunch to my mother’s grave and eating at the grave, because he needs to feel she’s still alive and she’s eating with him,’ one of their sons told wsvn.com.

Security footage caught Cavalie’s squad car driving off (top left) seconds after he had been alerted to the dying hit-and-run victim (circled top)

Cavalie had been with the department for less than a year when the crash took place on the afternoon of April 28.

The Bronco was being driven by Demarcus Cortez Harrington, 43, who clipped Kehdr’s bike as he passed, throwing her onto the curb where she hit her head.

Witnesses saw Harrington glance back in his side-view mirror without stopping and shrug his shoulders before continuing his journey, an arrest warrant states.

Newly released security footage shows onlookers speaking to Cavalie who ‘directed the civilians who reported the collision to enter the police station and file the report themselves,’ according to Miami Beach police Chief Wayne Jones.

Cavalie is seen rounding the corner and driving off before other officers rush out of the police building as witnesses began filing the police report they had asked Cavalie to.

Harrington meanwhile pulled over when he was out of eyesight and was challenged by a friend who had been driving immediately in front of him.

The friend, who knew Harrington from a local strip club, later told police they were returning their hired Ford Broncos to Miami International Airport when he heard the ‘smack’ of Harrington’s collision.

After pulling over he asked Harrington if he had ‘run anyone over’ and pleaded with his friend to go back to the scene, according to a police report.

Esmat Khedr, 63, had made a new life for herself in Florida and was living in nearby Pennsylvania Avenue with her husband after moving from their native Egypt 

Camera’s caught the moment the blue Ford Bronco being driven by Demarcus Harrington clipped Khedr’s electric bicycle sending her headfirst into the curb

Passers-by rushed to help the fatally injured woman as both Harington and Cavalie drove off

Demarcus Cortez Harrington looked in his side-view mirror and shrugged after striking Khedr in his hired Ford Bronco, according to witnesses 

But Harrington reacted furiously, insisting he was ‘not going back to jail’ and leaving his friend afraid he would ‘shoot and kill him’, if he spoke to police.

Harrington ditched the hired Bronco and left the scene on foot, and it took officers nearly two months to track him down and charge him with leaving the scene of a crash causing death.

It was just three days however before internal investigators were alerted to Cavalie’s conduct.

‘This response was negligent and a clear violation of our departmental policy,’ Jones said.

‘After a comprehensive investigation, Mr Cavalie’s employment was terminated immediately.’

Khedr had been living in nearby Pennsylvania Avenue after arriving from Egypt with her husband.

Her sons, who are still living in the North African nation and did not want to be identified, told Miami 7News that their family is struggling to come to terms with what happened.

‘We’re still suffering from it now,’ one told the station. ‘Nothing can bring my mom back. It was a very bad moment. It was very difficult.

‘Our thoughts, like, you know, we couldn’t imagine, first of all, something like that could happen. Accidents can happen anywhere, but hit-and-run, this is something so bad.

‘She’s a person taking care of everyone. She always needed people to be happy around her. She’s a very kind person.

‘When you see one of your family members taken in a crime, it’s always you feel bad, you feel like, ‘I need justice’.’

Harrington has a lengthy criminal history dating back to 2001 in his native Iowa and has served time in prison for a series of felonies.

He is being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center ahead of his next scheduled court appearance on October 2.

Khedr’s sons told 7News that their mother ‘always needed people to be happy’ 

Chief Jones said Cavalie was still in his probationary period after joining the department in July last year, and that his ‘negligence’ should not reflect on the rest of his officers.

‘It is critical to emphasize that every member of this department is held to the highest standards, and any behavior similar to that exhibited by Mr Cavalie will not be tolerated,’ he added.

‘His actions are not indicative of the dedication and professionalism of the hardworking men and women of the Miami Beach Police Department.’

‘Our prayers remain with the victim of this tragic incident.’