MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A South Florida man talked to 7News about his road to recovery after he survived a close call with a suspected drunk driver in Miami Beach.
Thirty-two-year-old Carlos Garcia, a line cook at a Miami Beach restaurant, was riding his bicycle to work when he was hit by a car, early Friday morning.
Garcia was on his bike in the area of Dade Boulevard near Alton Road when, police said, Oliver Reyes hit him with his car, around 8 a.m.
Garcia was rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center with severe head trauma. Just several days later, he was out of the hospital and spoke to just one station.
Garcia’s nephew, 19-year-old Edwin Alvarado, sifted through his uncle’s torn and bloody clothes from Friday morning.
“You see how everything is ripped? He could’ve died because of this,” said Alvarado.
“I felt like crying because I’ve been with him so long,” said Alvarado, “so I didn’t know, like, what to think at the moment ’cause everything happened so fast.”
According to police, Reyes was three times over the legal blood alcohol limit at the time of the incident.
“All the people that think that drinking and driving is a game, like, it’s not. Because there’s teens that lost their life for something so dumb.”
Garcia said he’s grateful to be alive and is thankful he’s living to see another day.
“I thank God because not everybody survives from these accidents,” said Alvarado. “To me, life is valuable ’cause you can’t get it twice.”
Garcia is currently recovering at home.
“Thank God he’s here with us alive, and that he can live more with his daughter.”
“I love her. She is my life,” said Garcia about his daughter.
7News reached out to Reyes but received no call back.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.