Man left in coma after being struck by two cars, his family says. The drivers took off.
A South Florida man is in a coma after police say he was struck by two hit-and-run drivers within minutes of each other.
Jose Cruz of Sunrise was in his blue Honda Pilot when he was rear-ended by a red Dodge Caravan on West Sunrise Boulevard around 6 a.m. Sunday, according to Plantation police.
When Cruz stepped out of his SUV, possibly to assess the damage or speak to the driver, he was struck by a black Honda Accord, said Detective Robert Rettig, a police spokesman.
Both drivers then ran away, he said, leaving their vehicles behind.
Jasmine Diaz, Cruz’s wife, was in the car with him.
“My glasses flew off of my face, so I didn’t see anything, so I just kept on calling out for him,” she told WSVN. “When I finally found my glasses, he was ... on the ground.”
Cruz was taken to Broward General Hospital in critical condition, said his older brother Luis Torres, who has created a GoFundMe page to help pay for Cruz’s medical expenses.
“He has brain bleeding, broken ribs, a fracture leg, and punctured lungs,” Torres wrote on the page. “He is currently on a breathing machine. It’s expected that he might spend months sedated and in a medically induced coma.”
The Connecticut couple had recently moved to South Florida with their three daughters for Cruz’s new job, according to the GoFundMe page. His youngest daughter is 3.
Created two days ago, the GoFundMe page has raised more than $10,000 as of Wednesday afternoon.
The crash is being investigated by Plantation’s Traffic Homicide Unit.
Anyone with information that can help police find the suspects is asked to call Broward CrimeStoppers at 954-493-8477 (TIPS) or visit browardcrimestoppers.org. You can remain anonymous.
This story was originally published October 16, 2019 at 10:34 AM.
