SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A 15-year-old boy continues to recover at the hospital after, police said, he was struck while riding his bicycle in Southwest Miami-Dade by an off-duty Miami Beach Police officer.
Jonathan Percival Tellez spoke about the crash as he lay on his hospital bed at Kendall Regional Medical Center, Friday.
“I’m just glad I’m alive,” he said.
The teen suffered a fracture in his forearm, a fracture in his vertebrae and road rash. He said the pain is excruciating.
Thursday night, 7News cameras captured the victim’s mother, Lourdes Rosado, as she waited outside the emergency room with family.
“You can’t fathom it. It’s a phone call no one wants to get,” she said.
Investigators said the teen was riding his bicycle in the area of Southwest 127th Avenue and 200th Street when he was struck by the marked cruiser, just after 8 p.m., Thursday.
Tellez said he was talking on the phone with a friend while riding his bicycle when he was struck.
“Hit my son from behind, and he was taken here to trauma,” said Rosado.
Florida Highway Patrol and Miami Beach Police units responded to the scene of the crash.
“My last memory was waking up, and I was full of blood, and there was a cop looking at me and telling me that there was help coming,” said Tellez.
According to FHP, the officer didn’t see Tellez and collided with him.
Detectives said the bicyclist didn’t have any reflective lights or reflective clothing.
“I asked repeatedly if the whole incident was my fault,” said Tellez.
The teen said the officer responded by reassuring him that medics were on the way.
Rosado and Tellez dispute that the bike did not have a reflector.
“I do believe that I do have a reflector on the back of my bike,” said Tellez.
“To put this responsibility on a 15-year-old riding a bike? You’re going to put it on him?” said Rosado.
Paramedics transported the teen to the hospital with injuries that are not life-threatening.
Rosado said the crash happened in an area with plenty of light, and she questioned how her son wasn’t seen by the officer.
“Even if he’s in the middle of the road on a bicycle, how do you hit him from behind at such a force that he broke your windshield?” she said.
The marked cruiser was towed away before a 7News crew was able to record video of it.
Late Thursday night, Tellez’s family gave an update on his condition and provided pictures of the teen in his hospital room with his head bandaged.
“They’re picking glass out of my son’s head,” said Rosado. “He’s scared, but he’s gonna be OK.”
Rosado is upset she has not heard from the officer or anyone at the Miami Beach Police Department.
“Why hasn’t this police officer called me and said, ‘Hey, I’m sorry,’ whatever the reasons are,” she said. “I mean, when something happens to one of them, we all, we’re all part of that blue line. We all take care of each other.”
One day later, Rosado said, she still has not been contacted by Miami Beach Police.
“I’ve yet to hear a call of concern, ‘Hey, is your son OK?’ Seriously?” she said.
At the same time, Rosado is relieved her son is expected to make a full recovery and could come home as early as this weekend.
“I do believe that there was an angel and God was with my son last night,” she said.
When she visited the hospital, Rosado said, her son told her, “‘Don’t worry. I know I broke a windshield, but I’m built different.’ He’s scared, but he’s gonna be OK.”
FHP cited Tellez for not having a light or rear reflector on his bike.
The police officer involved will not be cited.
A Miami Beach Police spokesperson said he will pass along that Rosado wants to be contacted by the department.
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