Police release description of van involved in hit-and-run crash

Cyclist was seriously hurt after being struck along Rickenbacker Causeway

MIAMI – Miami police have released new information about a vehicle that struck a bicyclist in a hit-and-run crash along the Rickenbacker Causeway earlier this month.

Although the victim, Jorge Rouco, was unable to give a description of the vehicle that struck him, police now say they believe the vehicle responsible was a white van -- either a 2001 GMC Safari or a Chevy Astro Van. Police said the van lost its right-side mirror in the crash.

Rouco, of Sunny Isles Beach, was riding his bicycle west on the causeway when he was struck by a car about 7 p.m. April 2. He was seriously hurt in the crash and is still being treated at Jackson Memorial Hospital, said Cynthia Vasconez, Rouco's wife. 

Rouco spoke to Local 10 Tuesday from his hospital bed in hopes of finding the person responsible for the crash.

"[I had] a lacerated liver, a ruptured spleen, a collapsed lung, which was also bleeding," Rouco said on Tuesday.

Since then, Vasconez said her husband had a few setbacks, but is now recovering. Rouco had surgery on Thursday to re-drain his lung and address any more internal bleeding, she said.

Anyone with information about the crash is asked to contact Detective L. Vargas or the traffic homicide unit at 305-603-6525 or Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.