MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Dash camera video captured the moment a South Florida bicyclist was struck and killed by a truck in 2022. Now his loved ones are speaking out about their loss, days after their attorney announced a multimillion-dollar judgment in the case.
Miguel Ortiz was killed on Feb. 15, 2022, as seen on dashcam videos from inside a delivery truck and other footage obtained by 7News. The victim is seen pedaling on the truck’s rear-view mirror moments before he was hit.
On Thursday, his brother, Gustavo Ortiz, and his mother, Elba Camanera Ortiz, said they are still devastated.
“It’s just indescribable,” said Gustavo. “Watching your mother suffering like that, you can actually cut the pain in the air with a knife.”
Police said Miguel was riding his bike on Dade Boulevard in Miami Beach when a truck driver who was making a food delivery turned right on Purdy Avenue, struck the cyclist and ran him over.
Speaking as Gustavo translated, Camanera Ortiz described her deceased son as a kind person.
“[He was] somebody who will give you help and compassion unconditionally,” she said.
7Skyforce hovered above the scene of the crash two years ago. It was later followed by memorials paying tribute to Miguel’s memory.
The family’s attorney, Judd Rosen, also spoke with 7News on Thursday.
“A wonderful family, a 50-year-old young man, athletic, and his mom never got to say goodbye,” he said.
In recent days, Rosen won a multimillion-dollar judgment for the Ortiz family. He and his team used the dashcam videos to make their point in court.
The truck driver, Jairo Restrepo, is heard having a cellphone conversation in Spanish.
Rosen said he didn’t see the cyclist.
“He fell victim to a distracted driver,” he said.
The attorney said Restrepo signaled late before turning.
“He couldn’t see, because he wasn’t paying attention,” said Rosen.
A store surveillance camera showed Miguel on his bike and the truck moments before impact. A building blocked what comes next, but the camera captured audio of the crash.
Just to the west, a dashcam from an Uber vehicle captured the immediate aftermath of the crash from another point of view.
“Should we stop and make sure he’s OK?” a woman is heard saying in the video.
“He’s not OK,” a man is heard saying.
Performance Transportation LLC., the company that owns the meat truck, offered the Ortiz family an $80,000 settlement. The offer was declined.
The case went to trial, and Rosen said a Miami-Dade court found “negligence against the driver, finding of damages of $5.2 million, but none of that is going to bring Miguel back.”
“It has been bad. It has been really bad,” said Gustavo. “Please, pay attention on the road. We don’t really want anybody to go through anything like this. In our case, it was catastrophic.”
After the crash, Miami Beach Police said the cyclist was at fault for not yielding, but attorneys in court proved otherwise.
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