Driver accused of running down 84-year-old in wheelchair leaving church on Father’s Day is freed from jail 2 hours after arrest

Background: Messer Airport Highway at Georgia Road where wheelchair-bound Erwin Curtis Ellis was struck by a vehicle in June 2024 (Google Maps). Inset: Saamus Hakeem Strickland (Birmingham Police Department).

A 27-year-old man in Alabama has been arrested after he allegedly struck an 84-year-old wheelchair-bound man heading home from church in on Father’s Day and then fled the scene in his vehicle.

Sammus Hikeem Strickland is accused of hitting and killing Erwin Ellis Curtis.

Jail records reviewed by Law&Crime on Monday show Strickland is charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death or injury. Strickland was booked by the Birmingham Police Department on July 25 with bail set at $15,000.

He spent just two hours and 17 minutes in jail before he made bail, jail records show.

Curtis was crossing the street in his wheelchair on June 16 at Messer Airport Highway and Georgia Road when Strickland allegedly hit him, AL.com reported.

Strickland fled the scene and instead of helping, he left the injured 84-year-old man in the road, police said. Curtis was transported to an area hospital and treated until July 5 when he died, according to CBS affiliate WIAT.

He suffered bleeding on the brain and was put into a medically induced coma, AL.com reported.

Curtis’ niece, Ilsa Curtis, called her uncle a “pillar of strength, love and wisdom for us all” in an interview with the outlet.

She said he was a family patriarch who had spent his life working for Coca-Cola before his retirement.

“His presence filled our lives with joy, guidance, and cherished memories,” she told AL.com, adding, “you don’t just throw someone like away.”

Though devastated by the loss, Ilsa Curtis, who resides in New Jersey, says her family reminds one another that what comes next for Strickland is out of their hands.

“We have to let the Lord handle it. I do trust in the Lord, and he says, ‘Vengeance is mine,”” she said.

Strickland will appear in court next in August. It is unclear if he has retained an attorney.

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Driver accused of running down 84-year-old in wheelchair leaving church on Father’s Day is freed from jail 2 hours after arrest

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Driver accused of running down 84-year-old in wheelchair leaving church on Father’s Day is freed from jail 2 hours after arrest

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