15-Year-Old Boy On Bicycle Struck By Hit-And-Run Driver, Dragged A Thousand Feet
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — A 15-year-old boy is fighting for his life after being struck by a car and being dragged on the pavement in South Los Angeles.
Roberto Diaz was found at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Woodlawn Avenue at about 9 p.m. Tuesday. Police say he was actually struck in the intersection of Maple Avenue and 36th, about 1,000 feet away.
The teenager had just left a nearby convenience store when the driver ran a stop sign and hit him. Witnesses told police they tried to stop the car but Roberto was dragged about 1,500 feet before he got free of it.
As of Wednesday morning, Roberto was recovering in ICU after undergoing surgery for serious injuries. His mother, Belen Garcia, had a message for the hit-and-run driver.
"My message for him, for the driver, is to turn himself in. How is it that you did not have a heart, that you dragged him from 37th Street to here and you just left him there to die?" she said through an interpreter.
A description of the driver was not available, but the suspect car was described as a silver sedan, possibly a Honda, between 2007 and 2008, with tinted windows.
Roberto, who is in critical but stable condition, is about to start his junior year at Santee Education Complex. Los Angeles Police Detective Moses Castillo said they are hoping Roberto will make a full recovery.
"The fact that he's young and that he's 15 years old is something that will be in his favor," he said. "He has the strength and endurance to pull through, and that's what we hope he does."