A South Florida man is grateful he’s alive after detectives say a driver hit him while he was in his wheelchair in Dania Beach and left.
Jorge Luis Gonzalez got emotional in an interview with NBC6 on Wednesday and said he thought he was going to die.
“I want to cry,” he said.
Gonzalez, who’s a double amputee, was going to breakfast Monday. He was crossing the street when a black van hit him. A surveillance camera recorded the hit-and-run.
“Spun me completely around,” he said. “I thought I was going to get killed because if my chair would have bounced off that sidewalk, I was going to be flipped over.”
Gonzalez said the driver opened his door and started talking to him.
“He opened his door and asked me, ‘Are you okay?’ I said, ‘I’m really not sure, can you call an ambulance?’ And he closed the door, backed away and sped away,” Gonzalez said.
Investigators said the driver didn’t stop at the stop sign or yield to Gonzalez as he was crossing the street. Detectives are now searching for the driver.
David Hoffman is an attorney now representing Gonzalez.
“It’s a huge injustice,” Hoffman said. “At this point, somebody is out there, and somebody has answers.”
Gonzalez said he’s now having nightmares. Right now, he wants one thing.
“Justice, I want that man to think about his actions and if possible and if it’s in his heart, to come and apologize to me,” he said. “I’m a human being, just like he is. I know he made a mistake, all I ask of him, come and say I’m sorry I made a mistake.”
Detectives are currently investigating this incident. Anyone with information is urged to call Broward Crimestoppers at 954-493-TIPS.