Fort Lauderdale lifeguard recovering after he was hit by driver on Sunrise Boulevard
FORT LAUDERDALE - If you ask Alexander Romanenko what happened Friday night, he can't remember.
What he can tell you is how he feels.
"It hurts, I mean it hurts how someone could just leave someone like that," said Romanenko.
It happened Friday night when Romanenko, a Fort Lauderdale lifeguard, was heading home after work. Surveillance video shows him riding his scooter on the 700 block of East Sunrise Boulevard when he stopped at a red light. Moments later, a blue Prius slammed into him, violently throwing him off his scooter.
"I'm really lucky, everyone stopped around me and got out to kind of help me and direct traffic," said Romanenko.
But the driver didn't help.
In fact, they took off, leaving Romanenko sprawled out in the middle of the street before he was rushed to the hospital.
"It's really painful, my neck, back, I got bruising on my shin, left ankle," he said.
Romanenko said he almost didn't wear his helmet because it was a short ride, but added it likely saved his life.
"If I wasn't wearing that helmet, with how bad it is now, I don't know how much worse it could've been," he said.
As Romanenko begins his journey of recovery, he's asking the public to help identify the person driving the blue Prius that left him for dead.
"Your life can change like that. I'm going to do what I can to recover from this, but it hurts. I hope they have a conscious and they turn themselves in and do the right thing, because I don't want this to happen to anyone else," said Romanenko.
Doctors are still running tests on Romanenko to determine the extent of his injuries. Anyone who has any information about this hit-and-run is urged to call police.
