Deputies have made an arrest in the hit-and-run crash that killed 42-year-old Donald Branch on a Lakeland road Friday morning.

Lester Wayne DeLoach IIII, 24, of Lakeland was charged late Saturday with leaving the scene of a crash without rendering aid involving death. He was booked in the Polk County Jail.

"To hit a person and leave them for dead is unconscionable," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said. "Thankfully, someone did the right thing and reported information which led to this arrest and answers for the victim's family. The suspect will be held accountable for his crime."

Branch was walking in the area of Kathleen Road and Tom Branch Lane between 5:30 a.m. and 7:40 a.m. Friday when he was struck and killed by a vehicle whose driver kept going.

Branch's family said they were heartbroken that someone would leave him on the side of the road to die.

"If you didn't know what you hit you should've stopped. You should've looked," Branch's cousin, Leigh Whitehead said.

Investigators asked for the public's help in identifying the driver, and Saturday, they received a tip that led them to several locations searching for a 1998 burgundy Chevrolet Tahoe sport utility vehicle.

The vehicle, showing damage consistent with evidence from the crash scene, was found at DeLoach's residence, the sheriff's office said.

"We found the vehicle and sure enough the damage matched exactly the crime scene and in addition to that he made spontaneous statements,'" Judd said.

Investigators said they learned DeLoach and a passenger, Helen Young, had been traveling on Kathleen Road on Friday morning and "knew they hit something." By Friday evening, the couple realized they had hit a person.

Young told deputies she urged DeLoach to contact law enforcement, but he refused.

The arrest report said DeLoach was uncooperative with deputies, but after being placed under arrest, he said that had Branch "not been in the middle of the road, he wouldn't have been hit."

Branch leaves behind two young children who family members have had to tell he's never coming back home.

One family member says this death is even more difficult because they actually know DeLoach and his family.

"We actually know the kid," Branch's cousin, Sweetie Blommel said. "He went to school with my daughter. I actually went to school with his dad." 

The sheriff said if this was really an accident and if DeLoach wouldn't have left the scene, he probably wouldn't have faced any charges.