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A construction worker heading home was seriously injured in a hit-and-run accident. His family wants help finding the driver.

South Florida Sun Sentinel - 9/30/2021

A Davie construction worker who is also an amateur artist is hospitalized, unable to walk, and possibly not able to draw again, after a hit-and-run accident two weeks ago.

The family of Jose Antonio Juarez-Vargas made a plea Thursday to the public — and the driver — from the Broward Sheriff’s Office headquarters in Fort Lauderdale.

“He’s broken from head to toe basically,” Kassandra Machado said of her uncle, “and it’s because you were distracted, you were not paying attention, or you were just being reckless.”

Juarez-Vargas, 45, was hit about 7:30 p.m.Sept. 15 while crossing the street in the 1800 block of South State Road 7 in West Park.

Deputies say Juarez-Vargas was hit by a 2014-2017 white or silver Range Rover Sport that has a black roof and damage to the driver’s side. The Range Rover driver didn’t stop and turned left and drove east at Southwest 19th Street.

Deputies have surveillance video from a nearby T-shirt shop, but they don’t have a license plate number or a description of the driver.

The Florida Department of Highway and Safety Motor Vehicles website says 85% of hit-and-run crashes between 2015-2020 happened at nighttime, dawn or dusk. It also says among Florida’s 254 fatal hit-and-run crashes in 2020, 54% of victims were pedestrians. Statistics about Florida hit-and-run accidents that did not result in death were not available.

Juarez-Vargas, who family members say often gives money to homeless people, is recovering at Broward Health Medical Center with multiple injuries including broken ribs, a broken pelvis, a fractured left hand, knee damage, a concussion and internal bleeding.

He was unconscious and in critical condition upon arriving at the hospital, but relatives say he’s now conscious. He can’t remember the incident, and will need months of physical therapy to walk again.

Juarez-Vargas works construction with his brothers, Jorge and Ignacio. He was hit while coming home from work on a route he walks frequently, family members said.

“My heart broke,” Ignacio said. “When my brother [Ignacio] told me the situation, I was completely shocked.”

The family say they hope for a full recovery.

“He’s an artist,” Machado said. “Now with that hand [injury], it’s going to be difficult for him to express himself.”

The Broward Sheriff’s Office is asking anyone with information to contact Detective Chandler Greetham at 954-321-4844 or Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS (8477).

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