Erik Nicoletti taken off life support

Tampa, Florida -- Tampa Police say a University of Tampa student critically injured in a weekend hit-and-run crash was taken off life support on Monday and has died.

Erik Nicoletti was a 2007 graduate of North Salem High School in New York, and North Salem Schools Superintendent Kenneth Freeston confirmed his death after talking with Nicoletti's family, according to our partners at The Journal News.

Nicoletti was walking along a street near the University of Tampa campus with a friend, Cree Riley, 19, of Greencastle, Pa., when a car plowed into the couple as they were crossing a street west of Kennedy Boulevard at approximately 1:13 a.m. Saturday.

"There were no screams, there were no screeches," says Kelsie Cubit, who was just steps ahead of her two friends when the accident happened. "You can't even imagine... it was like being in a movie."

Riley and Nicoletti were taken to Tampa General Hospital. Even while Nicoletti was removed from life support at TGH on Monday, Riley struggled to survive. The teenager's right side is basically crushed, but Linda Gordon says her daughter, who wants to be a firefighter, is strong.

"She's tough. That's why she's still here," says Gordon, speaking with reporters outside the hospital.

Police say Andres Trujillo, 27, initially abandoned his car and left the scene of the accident. Trujillo turned himself in Sunday when police contacted his family after they found his car in a ditch.

Trujillo has been charged with hit and run with serious bodily injury and appeared before a judge in Tampa Monday morning.

Trujillo told police he was reaching down to pick up a dropped cigarette and then drove off in a panic.

What should happen to him?

A teary-eyed Gordon says she doesn't have time to think about that. "I'll be honest with you, right now, I'm so consumed by my daughter; I don't really care."

There will be a vigil for Nicoletti in the Vaughn Center courtyard on UT campus Monday night, beginning at 8:30.