PORT ST. LUCIE — A 19-year-old bicyclist sustained critical injuries Monday night after being struck by a dark-colored vehicle that fled the scene, police said Tuesday.
John J. Mejias, of the 2700 block of Northwest Hatches Harbor Road, was pedaling north on Floresta Drive south of Thornhill Drive about 8:20 p.m. when a vehicle hit him from behind, Officer Alex Gaufillet said, standing at the scene.
Mejias, who was flown to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, ended up about 130 feet from where he was struck.
“As far as exactly what happened during that distance we’re not too sure,” Gaufillet said. “We’re still trying to work out that.”
Mejias rode with the flow of traffic on the edge of the road, which has a 40 mph speed limit. He wasn’t wearing a helmet, but had lights on the front and back of his green bicycle.
Paint reportedly transferred onto the bicycle by the alleged hit-and-run vehicle is expected to be analyzed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to learn information about the vehicle.
“We really don’t have too much information other than possibly a dark-colored car,” Gaufillet said.
A neighbor reportedly heard a “loud boom,” and came outside to find Mejias on the driveway before calling 911.
Anyone with information is asked to call police 871-5001 or Treasure Coast Crime Stoppers at (800) 273-TIPS.
By Will Greenlee

Tags: bicycle, bicyclist, car, critical, driving, helmet, informant, medical, painting, police, roads, speeding, teen, teens, Traffic

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 25th, 2009 at 10:16 am and is filed under Crime, Port St. Lucie, St. Lucie County, Traffic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.