Richard Bartlett, the 23-year-old brother of Steelers defensive lineman Stephon Tuitt, was killed by a hit-and-run driver on Wednesday in Johns Creek, Georgia.
“You are in heaven living stress free,” Tuitt wrote on Instagram with a picture of the two of them. “I miss you so so so much bro. We love you and see you again one day. Thank you for the prayers and calls.”
Police say Bartlett was with his girlfriend and his mom, driving separate cars, when they stopped to make sure a mattress his girlfriend was moving was safely secured to the roof of her car. When Bartlett got out, a car hit him.
“The victim was following a girlfriend in a vehicle. She had a mattress strapped to the top of her car. From what we understand they may have stopped to secure it. She had pulled over to the right-hand side of the roadway. The victim had pulled into the left-hand turn lane right there at the boat entrance to the Chattahoochee River,” Capt. Todd Hood with Johns Creek Police told WGCL. “We do know that the vehicle turned around in the intersection right there possibly to see what had happened or what they had hit and at that point they fled the scene. The mom and girlfriend on scene at that point said they believe the vehicle was a dark, possibly black in color, four door sedan. One of the witnesses believes it was most likely a BMW.”
Tamara Tuitt-Bartlett, the mother of Tuitt and Bartlett, is a deputy with the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office. Local authorities are asking for anyone with information to contact police.