MIAMI – The family of a woman critically injured after being run over by a police-owned ATV says she will never be the same.
Kitzie Nicanor, 29, grew up in Miami but moved to Seattle five years ago. She has been in a coma ever since the Sunday morning collision.
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"She has a fractured pelvis. She had to have her spleen taken out and there's something wrong with her heart," said Leonard Nicanor, Kitzie's father.
The incident happened on the sand near 4th Street and Ocean Drive early Sunday after Nicanor and a group of friends and relatives decided to catch the sunrise.
"I saw the ATV speeding by with no lights on. Then I heard a bang and I knew it was her," said Jane Hooker, Kitzie's aunt.
Hooker told Local 10's Terrell Forney that the officer, identified as Derick Kuilan, checked for a pulse and called for paramedics but he quickly left the scene moments after the crash.
Kitzie's friend, Luis Altamonte, was also injured in the collision and is recovering at Mount Sinal hospital in Miami Beach.
A third person was injured when she was thrown from the vehicle.
Detectives say the officer was giving the woman a lift aboard the ATV, which is a violation of department policy.
Moments before the collision, Kuilan was spotted on surveillance cameras at the Clevelander, a popular restaurant and bar on South Beach. Another officer, Rolando Gutierrez was also at the bar. Both men were on duty and not in their assigned patrol areas.
The Miami Beach Police Department has moved to fire both officers from the force, pending a hearing set for Friday morning.
"We just want justice," said Hooker, whose greatest wish is to see her niece recover fully.