Miami Cyclists Hold Memorial Bike Ride for Cyclist Killed by Hit-and-Run Driver
Safe Streets Miami, fellow cyclists, and family members rode slowly through Kendall to remember a popular cyclist who was struck by a hit-and-run driver in Southwest Miami-Dade. The memorial ride was also used as a platform to urge authorities to make road safety a high priority in the Miami area.
According to the sole-witness of the early morning hit-and-run accident in Florida on March 31, the motorist who hit the cyclist at the corner of Eureka Drive and Southwest 137th Avenue, got out of his car, looked down at the bleeding and injured man he had just struck, and coldly got back into his vehicle and left the scene.
The 51-year-old cyclist was taken to Kendall Regional Trauma Center, where he was treated for multiple fractures and other injuries and was sent home five days later. However, after complaining of leg pain and disorientation at home, he was rushed to Baptist Hospital in Homestead, where he died. An autopsy revealed he had died of a pulmonary embolism related to his injuries.
Safe Streets Miami — a coalition of concerned citizens campaigning for safer streets and roads in Miami — was formed after a local Miami businessman and triathlete was struck and killed on his bike earlier this year. A spokesman for the group said it’s not only cyclists who have to worry about Miami’s dangerous roads:
“There’s lots of pedestrian hit-and-runs, too,” he told The Miami Herald. “Even if you’re in your car, the streets are getting worse all the time. We can’t just keep on looking the other way.”
Police have not found the hit-and-run-driver and have few leads.
Hit-and-run driving is reprehensible and irresponsible. The Florida personal injury law firm of Farah & Farah urges anybody who has information concerning any hit and run accident to call the We Tip hotline at (800) 6-HIT-N-RUN. It’s the right thing to do.
