A man crossing a Dania Beach street in his wheelchair was rammed by a driver who then fled the scene, and now he is demanding justice for what happened to him. The collision was captured on video, showing the moment the vehicle struck him as he tried to cross.
The footage, first reported by CBS News Miami, shows the driver ramming into the man before speeding away without stopping to check on him or render aid. The station’s report centers on the victim’s call for accountability following the crash.
Florida law leaves little ambiguity about what a driver is supposed to do in a moment like this. Under Florida Statute § 316.027, leaving the scene of a crash that causes personal injury is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in state prison, with fleeing a crash involving serious bodily injury carrying even steeper felony penalties, according to Online Sunshine, the state’s official statutes portal.
A Heightened Duty of Care for Wheelchair Users
State law also spells out a specific obligation drivers owe to mobility-impaired pedestrians. Florida Statute § 316.1303 mandates that drivers approaching an intersection come to a full stop and take the necessary precautions to avoid injuring someone using a wheelchair, walker, crutch, or orthopedic cane, per the same statutory text published by Online Sunshine. That heightened duty exists precisely because wheelchair users often cannot move out of harm’s way as quickly as an able-bodied pedestrian…