Portland police said Sunday night that no arrests have been made in the hit-and-run late Wednesday that resulted in the death of a Portland man who was skateboarding.
Meanwhile, the victim’s cousin, who lives in Massachusetts, has created a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to pay for Wayne Harwood’s memorial service and funeral expenses. The campaign had received more than $1,100 in donations as of Sunday night.
Lt. Robert Martin, spokesman for the Portland Police Department, said in an email that the investigation into the death of the 25-year-old Harwood is continuing.
Wayne Harwood with his pet flying squirrel, Pilot. Facebook photo courtesy of Craig Harwood
Harwood died Friday night, two days after he collided with a white sedan as he was entering Cumberland Avenue from Avon Street on his skateboard. The driver of the vehicle fled and was last seen heading east on Cumberland Avenue toward High Street, police said.
Authorities believe the sedan sustained damage to its passenger side. The crash took place around 11:10 p.m. Wednesday.
Harwood’s father, Craig Harwood of Lincolnville, said in a telephone interview Sunday evening that the driver should have had the decency to stop and try to help his son instead of fleeing the crash scene. Harwood said the crash is a memory the driver will have to live with for the rest of his or her life.
Harwood said he has been overwhelmed by the support the Lincolnville community has shown for his loss.
“Everybody knows what happened and everyone gives me a hug. I am so proud of my son,” said Harwood, who has another son, Kevin, who lives in San Diego.
Wayne Harwood grew up in Lincolnville and attended Camden Hills Regional High School. After graduation, he attended community college in Bangor, where he studied welding. He worked as a welder for a company in Raymond at the time of the accident.
Craig Harwood described his son as a free-spirited, kind soul who loved animals, nature and was a skilled photographer. He maintained a Facebook page called Wayne Harwood Photography and said he preferred to take surrealistic shots.
“Through the human eye, the world is what it is,” Harwood wrote in a February post. “Through the lens of a camera, the world is whatever you want it to be.”
He lived in Portland with his cat, Skittles, and had a pet flying squirrel named Pilot, who died two years ago.
He had rescued the animal from drowning in a lake and his dad, who worked as a veterinarian’s assistant, nursed it back to health. Pilot became Wayne Harwood’s companion.
“(Pilot) would go for rides in the car with Wayne,” Craig Harwood said.
According to the tribute posted on the GoFundMe website by his cousin Kim Lindgren of Worcester, Massachusetts, Harwood was heading back home on his skateboard Wednesday night after skateboarding in Portland.
He was a short distance from his home when he was hit by the white sedan. Harwood suffered severe head trauma and died Friday afternoon at Maine Medical Center. He never regained consciousness.
“Wayne was an easygoing person who had the natural ability to make people laugh,” Lindgren wrote. “As a result, he was loved by so many people. … Wayne was a guy who was filled with kindness, was always thinking of others and truly had a passion for life.”
Harwood’s father offered words of advice to parents or anyone with a loved one. He said he always hugged his son whenever they parted ways. It was a family tradition that father and son never wavered from.
“You just never know if or when you will see that person again,” Craig Harwood said.
Portland police are asking anyone who may have witnessed the accident or has information to contact the department at 874-8532 or 874-8575. Anonymous phone tips can be left on the police department’s crime tip line at 874-8584.
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