Atlanta

Mom makes heartbreaking plea after son killed in hit-and-run near popular club

By Kristen Holloway, WSB-TV
By Kristen Holloway, WSB-TV

ATLANTA — Atlanta police hope new video will lead them to the driver who hit and killed a pedestrian in Buckhead last month.

The accident happened May 13, the day after Mother's Day, at the intersection of Roswell Road and Ivy Chase Way in front of popular nightclub Johnny's Hideaway.

Robert Bowden, 31, was killed.

On Wednesday, police held a news conference releasing the new video of the accident and asking for anyone with information on who may have hit Bowden to come forward.

Channel 2's Kristen Holloway was at the news conference, where Bowden's mother made a heartbreaking plea for help.

"I miss his morning phone calls to me," Martha Bowden said. "Earlier that day was Mother's Day, which were his last words to me because my husband and I were driving from Florida. It was, 'I love you and happy Mother's Day.'"

Bowden said the victim was her only son. He moved to Atlanta to take acting classes and then pursue his dream of becoming an actor.

Police said he was hit by a red SUV, possibly a Jeep Wrangler.

You can see a glimpse of the car in the new surveillance video.

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"Witnesses on scene and surrounding surveillance cameras show Robert Bowden walk into the roadway," James White, with Atlanta police said. "He was missed by a passing motorist ... then was struck by an SUV, which caused fatal injuries."

Bowden died on the scene after the SUV took off.

Martha Bowden said her son was a leader in his chosen home of Atlanta and often served the homeless with a local charity.

She had a message for the driver who killed her son.

"I haven't slept in a month, and I'm thinking maybe, perhaps, you haven't either," Martha Bowden said. "My husband and I are crushed and shattered, but we ask for you to come forward. My son would ask you, as well."

Cox Media Group

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