By Jane Hamilton

The Daily Record

EDINBURGH, Scotland — A teenage driver took a photo of a dying hit-and-run victim and posted it on Twitter for a joke.

Ikram Choudhury, 19, saw the man lying in the road but did not try to help or call 999.

Instead, after stopping his own car to look, he tweeted his photo at 1.56am yesterday. He added the message: "Eeeehm wtf (what the f***)? Some guy just casually lying outside Ocean Terminal."

Choudhury told his followers the man had been drunk.

When they asked why he didn't try to help him, he joked that he had feared he would be sexually assaulted if he did.

Several Twitter users urged Choudhury to delete the photo and alert police.

One, Keanne Brown, asked if he had checked if the man was all right, then called him "sick" when he said he had not.

She wrote: "He might be dying and you left him for death.

"You should have seen if he was OK."

The man Choudhury photographed in a bus lane in Leith, Edinburgh, was mortally wounded when a driver ran him over and failed to stop.

It's understood he was lying in the bus lane when he was hit.

He lay without help for what may have been a critical 15 minutes until police arrived at 2.10am and called an ambulance. It's understood officers gave him first aid while waiting for the paramedics.

The man was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary but died of head and internal injuries shortly afterwards.

His name will not be released until next of kin have been informed.

The Record has seen Choudhury's picture but will not publish it. It remained on his Twitter feed for more than eight hours - until police told him to remove it.

Officers spoke to Choudhury yesterday afternoon at his parents' Edinburgh home.

A detective who answered the door confirmed they were interviewing the teenager, but refused to comment.

Choudhury could be prosecuted for failing to help the man but is not a suspect in the hit and run.

Police are looking for a silver Vauxhall Astra hatchback, possibly three-door, which was seen in the area at the time.

A spokesman said: "This has been a horrific accident. The driver fled the scene despite the car suffering damage to its underside and leaking engine coolant. "The damage will be obvious to anyone who uses the car.

"We are appealing for anyone who recognises this car to come forward.

"In particular, we would like to hear from any service stations or other outlets who may have sold water or engine coolant to the driver of a silver hatchback in the early hours of this morning."

After the accident, a trail of engine coolant led from the scene to the corner of Ocean Drive and Commercial Street, where a passing driver saw an eastbound car stopped with its bonnet raised.

Officers in paper forensics suits were at the scene yesterday, looking for evidence.

Copyright 2012 Scottish Daily Record & Sunday Mail Ltd.