Driver sought in hit-and-run that nearly killed father of 4 in Miami
MIAMI - Miami police are appealing for the public's help while releasing new surveillance video of a hit-and-run that nearly took the life of a father of four children.
Police spokesman, officer Mike Vega, said, "He didn't even stop. He didn't call 911. He didn't do anything to help this victim."
New video from a CBS News Miami viewer shows people trying to help the victim as he lay on the ground.
The victim, 40-year-old Gonzalo Olivas, tells CBS News Miami's Peter D'Oench that he was in a coma for five days and he was hospitalized for 30 days and needed a series of surgeries during his recovery.
"I had a lot of injuries," he said in Spanish. "My spine, my pelvis. Sometimes I am sleeping and I dream someone hit with me with a car."
Olivas said,"I thought I was going to die because my lungs filled up with fluid."
Olivas returned to the scene, where he was struck at 1:30 a.m. on July 23rd of last year as he was crossing N.W. 36th St. at 20th Ave.
Police are appealing for the public's help now after exhausting all leads in the case. They say the white, Chevrolet Suburban that struck him took off westbound on N.W. 36th St.
Olivas walked to the exact spot where he was struck and said, "I was trying to cross the street here and this is where the car hit me and I fell here. This person who did this, I am a human being and he left me on the road like I was no one. He didn't care whether I lived or died. Thank God I was spared."
Olivas showed how he still wears a brace around his stomach and has a scar from where screws were placed in his pelvis. "I will need one more surgery for my knee," he said.
"Thank God my recovery went well but I am still in pain when I bend down. I do not remember what the car that hit me looked like."
Olivas said, "What I want that person to realize is that he left me in a lot of pain in my body and psychologically. My advice to that person is that if you are watching this, put your hand on your heart because today it was me and tomorrow it could be someone else."
Olivas said his wife and his four daughters all live in Nicaragua.
Vega said, "It's a long white SUV vehicle that hit the victim and left him to die Peter. He didn't even stop. He didn't even call 911. He didn't do anything to help the victim."
"What we need from the pubic is if you live text to someone who has a Suburban that looks like this, if you can remember a year back to a car with front-end damage or was missing a headlamp on the passenger side. Or if you worked at a paint or body shop and can remember a car like this, come forward."
"We know this was a white Chevrolet Suburban with tinted windows and it may have had a roof rack on top," said Vega.
"If that vehicle would have stayed there, maybe nothing would have happened. Maybe the vehicle was not at fault. But because he left, he committed a crime and now he is facing leaving the scene of an accident with injuries."
Anyone who can help Miami Police with this case should call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS (8477).
