Troopers searching for driver who hit, killed Okeechobee veteran

OKEECHOBEE, Fla. - The Taps board at VFW Post 10539 had another name added to it Sunday.

Charles Amidon, known to everyone here as Chuck, died Sunday night.

The military veteran was walking home on 34th Avenue when a car hit him and kept going.

Amidon walked the road often.

At 75-years old, he didn't get around like he used to, but he would push his walker to the VFW post almost daily.

"You would see him strolling. He loved to walk and it did him good too," says VFW bartender Jeanette "J.J." Johnson.  "It got him out of the house and he got to see people."

Amidon was a widower, according to his friends at the post.

He amazed his fellow veterans here with his knowledge.

Friends say Amidon spoke ten languages and spent his career teaching troops.

"He was a very, very nice man," says Johnson.  "Very friendly and he cared about people and he cared about what was going on in Okeechobee."

Friends warned Amidon to be careful of the traffic and he always was, so no one can understand how he got hit.

Even harder to comprehend, why the driver didn't stop.

Troopers collected what little evidence they could find along the road, but they still don't know the make or model of the car involved in the crash.

The Florida Highway Patrol says the vehicle should have damage to the right front or right side.

No one saw the car, but troopers believe it continued southbound on 34th Avenue towards U.S. 441.

"Whoever it is needs to turn themself in," says Johnson.  "They took a life and that's really sad."