Runner struck in Miramar hit-and-run is in coma. Husband tells driver to come forward

Roosevelt Delinois usually walks his wife to her car before she runs with her pals in the early morning on the first and last Saturday of each month. But on April 6, he stayed in bed in the predawn hours.

A phone call woke him up sometime later.

“Once I got the call, I touched over to the bed and she wasn’t there,” Roosevelt said.

Onyxia Delinois, 26, while running far ahead of her pack — had been struck by a vehicle around 7 a.m. while running eastbound in the bike lane in the 18300 block of Miramar Parkway. The car’s driver did not stop and left her for dead about a block from the Shops at Sunset Lakes’ Publix grocery store, according to the Miramar Police Department.

When two of her running buddies found Onyxia lying in the grass, she was crying, and at least one of her shoes was discovered far from her. They didn’t see nor hear the crash, which happened about 10 minutes earlier. One of them called police, Miramar police spokeswoman Tania Ordaz said.

“She was running alone when this happened,” Ordaz said Wednesday.

The group, Ordaz said, meets at the Silver Lakes Sports Complex, located less than two miles from where the crash happened.

Paramedics resuscitated Onyxia and transported her to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood.

So far, neither the driver nor any witnesses have come forward. The portion of the road, lined with trees and canals, has no surveillance cameras that would have recorded what happened.

Police officers and Roosevelt are pleading for the driver to come forward. They are also asking for potential witnesses to call the police and for nearby residents to be on the lookout for a vehicle with front-end damage.

“The vehicle could be in the house next door from you,” Miramar Traffic Homicide Investigator Jose Rosales told reporters Wednesday during a press conference at Memorial Regional Hospital.

In a coma

While the hit-and-run driver remains free, Onyxia — suffering from extensive brain injuries — is in a coma, connected to breathing and feeding tubes.

“I’m devastated,” Roosevelt said. “She just did the Miami marathon.”

According to her doctors, her prognosis is uncertain as they try to keep the brain swelling under control. If she survives, it would be weeks if not months before she can leave the hospital and go home with her husband and his 14-year-old son, her doctors said.

“We are extremely concerned about her neurological recovery,” said Chief of Trauma Services Dr. Andrew Rosenthal.

Roosevelt said Onyxia, who owns an insurance company, is an amazing, selfless person. The Broward County couple married in 2023 but have been together for eight years, police said.

“She does so much for me and my family… she tries to help everyone else,” Roosevelt said in between cries and tears. “I just want someone to say something, someone to come forward and say who did this to her.”

A GoFundMe fundraiser set up by her family to cover her medical expenses had raised nearly $10,000 as of Thursday morning.

‘An epidemic’

Rosales exhorted drivers to always stay at the crash scene, help the people hurt and call 911. Early medical intervention, Rosenthal added, could make a difference in a patient’s recovery.

“Hit-and-runs are an epidemic,” Rosales said.

Although the majority of hit-and-runs in Florida only result in property damage, the crashes can be deadly, according to Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicle’s website.

In 2023, there were 104,273 hit-and-run crashes in Florida, a decrease of less than 1% from 2022. Hit-and-run crashes during the same year resulted in 271 deaths and 871 serious bodily injuries.

Of the 271 hit-and-run deaths, 159 were pedestrians and 47 were bicyclists, representing 76% of all hit-and-run fatalities. Over 81% of hit-and-run deaths occurred during dawn, dusk or nighttime conditions.

Hit-and-run drivers who flee after injuring someone face up to five years in prison. If someone dies, they face a mandatory minimum sentence of four years and up to 30 years in prison.

“You have to stay,” Rosales said. “We have to stop this behavior.”

Anyone with information about the hit-and-run crash is encouraged to call the Miramar Police Department at 954-764-4357. To remain anonymous, contact Broward Crime Stoppers by dialing 954-493-8477 or visiting browardcrimestoppers.org. Crime Stopper tips are anonymous and tipsters could receive a reward of up to $5,000.

This story has been updated to correct Jose Rosales’s last name.