‘My head was gushing blood’: Victim in hit-and-run near Fort Lauderdale speaks out as BSO searches for driver

By NICOLE LINSALATA, KEVIN BOULANDIER

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    DANIA BEACH, Florida (WSVN) — Authorities are investigating a hit-and-run incident involving a driver who, they said, struck a woman on an electric bike near Fort Lauderdale, helped her up and then fled. Now the victim is sharing her account of what led up to the crash and its immediate aftermath.

According to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, the incident occurred shortly before 9 p.m. on Friday, May 31, on the 4500 block of South Federal Highway.

BSO deputies received a call about a person lying in the roadway.

Surveillance footage from the incident showed Lopez getting hit from behind. The driver stopped, assisted the victim and placed her bike against the wall, but then he drove away.

The victim, Margarita Lopez, spoke with 7News on Wednesday about her ordeal. She said she was on the way home when she was hit.

“I just picked up my e-bike so it got service. I just went to visit a friend, and I was coming home,” she said.

Lopez said she doesn’t remember much after that.

“I remember bits and pieces, but then seeing the video, I actually realized I don’t remember,” she said.

Paramedics rushed her to a local hospital for treatment.

Detectives said a preliminary investigation determined a silver SUV traveling on South Federal Highway struck Lopez, who was riding her electric bike southbound inside the tunnel.

When asked if she remembered any conversation she had with the driver, she said he asked “if I was OK, and then he told me I just got hit by a car.”

She described the moments after the crash.

“He helped me up from the floor. I didn’t even know I was hurt until I touched my head, and my head, it was just gushing blood and, you know, he could’ve at least called 911,” said Lopez.

She said another driver called police.

In a Facebook post posted by Lopez, she shows her neck in a brace, while her arms and shoulders are bright red with road rash. She also posted pictures of her mangled bicycle.

On the social media platform, the victim said the rush of pain came later as the shock wore off, adding that she must wear the brace for seven weeks and that she’s unable to work.

Deputies want the public’s help in searching for the driver behind this hit-and-run.

Lopez said she is very thankful she is able to be alive after she saw the video of the crash.

“That’s when everything hit me, so I’m just thankful that it wasn’t worse,” she said.

Lopez told 7News that while she has received flowers from friends as she recovers, she knows that the outcome could’ve been much worse, and the flowers could’ve been for her own funeral.

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