WICHITA (FoxKansas.com) -- A Wichita doctor is facing at least two charges in the hit-and-run death of a landscaper who was struck five months ago while working on the side of the road.
Mohammad Sarrafizadeh, 67, appeared Wednesday in Sedgwick County District Court to respond to the charges that were filed in October by the district attorney's office. The charges include failure to stop at an accident resulting in death, a felony, and vehicular homicide, a misdemeanor.
Authorities have said that landscaper Ramon Martinez-Limon, 31, was struck on June 10 shortly after 7 am while he was working on Greenwich Road near Douglas. Police have alleged that Sarrafizadeh was behind the wheel of the mini van that struck the victim. Police have also said that the vehicle drove for several miles with the victim's body on top after the collision.
Witnesses called police after seeing the vehicle driving with the landscaper's body on the roof. Sarrafizadeh, a radiologist, was said to be taking his 22-year-old autistic daughter to her special needs school in the moments before the incident occurred.
A statement released by Dan Monnat, the doctor's attorney, said his client had suffered a stroke, which led to the accident.
"The medical evidence and testing of four independent Kansas doctors now clearly establish that," the statement said. "The condition left Dr. Sarrafizadeh so disoriented and confused that he turned around and drove home not even realizing he had been involved in an accident."
The statement also said the stroke prompted Sarrafizadeh to retire from his position at the VA Medical Center.
The doctor is expected to be back in court on Nov. 23.
FoxKansas.com Staff Writer Alfred Charles contributed to this report. He can be reached at acharles@nptvgroup.com.
