By Melissa Garcia

DENVER, Colo. (CBS4) – Police are searching for the driver who hit and killed a bicyclist Sunday morning in Denver.

Around 1:30 a.m., a male bicyclist, identified as Drew Dietrich, was about to turn left onto Gilpin Street from 1st Avenue when the driver of a black 2016 Fiat 500 stuck him and drove off.

Felix Romero, a bicyclist from Congress Park, was riding a little more carefully Sunday after learning of the crash.

“It’s really scary to know that I’m going across an intersection where somebody was fatally injured,” said Romero. “You have to be really careful. I mean, wear a helmet all of the time.”

Police shut down the intersection for hours as traffic investigators worked to reconstruct the deadly accident.

Police said that both Dietrich and the driver of the Fiat were heading eastbound on 1st Avenue at Gilpin when the collision occurred, and the driver fled the scene.

Police activated a Medina Alert, relying on the public’s help to look out for the vehicle.

“As a result of the collision, the license plate on the front of the vehicle was left on scene,” said Sgt. David Bingham, a traffic investigations officer with the Denver Police Department.

Police were able to locate the involved Fiat just hours later. It had been abandoned seven blocks away in the parking lot of the Whole Foods grocery store on 1st Avenue and University Street.

As of Sunday afternoon officers were still searching for the driver.

“When you leave the scene of an accident involving the death of a person it carries a substantial penalty. It is a felony crime for hit-and-run,” said Bingham.

Police would not say if the driver of the Fiat or Dietrich was originally at fault in the collision.

Melissa Garcia has been reporting for CBS4 News since March 2014. Find her bio here, follow her on Twitter @MelissaGarciaTV, or send your story idea to mkgarcia@cbs.com.