Daughter asks help searching for hit & run driver who killed father

OAKLAND, Calif. (KTVU) - The family of an Oakland man killed by a hit and run driver is asking for help. They say 49-year-old Mark Johnson was an innocent bystander who was waiting for a bus when he was hit by a speeding car in East Oakland.  

Johnson's daughter Markeysha describes her father as  a devoted family man.

She says to have his life cut short so suddenly and senselessly is unthinkable. 

Markeysha Johnson, with her husband by her side, visits the site of the deadly crash that killed her father mark to try to make sense of what happened. 

She found extensive damage to the base of a sign at the parking lot of Walgreens. a downed tree and a partially knocked over fence, but no answers.  

Markeysha is asking for the driver who's responsible to come forward.  

"He  broke my heart. We don't have justice.  It's out there. We don't know where they are," says Markeysha. 

She wants the driver who struck and killed her father found and arrested.

She says on December 4th, he was on his way home when the crash happened.

Police sa around 1 a.m., a black Dodge Charger appeared to be racing a BMW 320 along International Boulevard near 82nd Avenue, when the Charger crashed into Johnson.  

"He was just coming from Bingo.  He was waiting on the bus to go home. He doesn't stay that far from here," says Markeysha.  

Oakland Fire and paramedics tried to save Johnson, but  he died at the scene. Markeysha says it was almost a nightly routine for her father to be in the area to play bingo. She described him as a loving and responsible man 

"He raised my brother and I, a single parent, to our adulthood.  Now, I don't have him anymore.  It's heartbreaking," says Markeysha. 

Johnson worked as a handyman.  Relatives say he had a big smile and a big heart.  

"Always trying to help people. I'm really hurt that this happened," says Derrick Taylor, Markeysha's husband and Johnson's son-in-law.  

Police say both cars were speeding and that the driver of the Dodge Charger lost control.  The driver and a passenger left the vehicle at the scene and fled. 

It's unclear if the Charger was stolen.  The other vehicle fled the scene.

"Somebody knows something. I'm not saying come snitch or nothing.  It's not about snitching. It's about justice.  Come say something. It's all I want," says Markeysha.   

She tells KTVU she was planning to celebrate Christmas at her new home with her father.  Instead, she's planning his funeral. 

"He was a great man.  He always seemed happy," says Markeysha. 

Mark Johnson leaves behind Markeysha and her brother along with  five grandchildren.

A wake for Johnson will be held this Sunday. Police are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.