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Mar 24, 2009 9:47 pm US/Eastern
FIU Student Gets Leg Severed In Hit & Run Accident
Anthony Llodra, 18, Is In Stable Condition
KENDALL (CBS4) ―
The parents of 18-year-old Anthony Llodra are praying for their son to survive after a hit-and-run driver left him in critical but stable condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital.
They say Llodra was so badly injured and trapped in his car after the accident that he was bleeding to death, until a decision was made on the scene to sever his left leg below the knee. After that, he was airlifted to the Ryder Trauma Center where his parents remain at his bedside.
"He's stable. We are praying for his life," said Llodra's mother, Ana Martin. "They had to cut his leg below the knew because there was no other solution for him to live, to be alive. All the doctors, they were really helpful at this hospital. There was no other solution for him but to lose the leg."
Martin and her husband Jorge Llodra and a group of relatives including Anthony's aunt and grandmother huddled outside the Ryder Trauma Center and talked about Anthony, who's a freshman at Florida International University and who was returning home from his nighttime job at about 8:30 Monday night when the accident happened.
"I was scared," said LLodra's father. "They told me it took 45 minutes for paramedic firefighters to extract him. We could have lost him last night."
Miami-Dade police say Llodra was traveling south on Southwest 137 Ave. near Kendall Drive when another car veered into his lane. Llodra's Honda Accord then struck a concrete pole and flipped over. Police say the suspect took off, southbound on 137th Avenue. They describe his car as new, silver, and possibly a Toyota or Nissan.
"He was coming home from work," said Llodra's mother. "He was an A student. He was a very good son. He was only 18." With tears flowing down her face and her husband hugging her, she said, "Oh God give me the strength for him to come out of this ok."
Detectives say if you know anything or think you might have seen the suspect's car, you should call Miami-Dade police or Crimestoppers at (305) 471---TIPS.
"Whoever did it," said Llodra's father, "It's ok. We just want to know. There's room for forgiveness. There's room for forgiveness."
He said Llodra is planning on becoming an electrical engineer after his studies at F.I.U. He has two other brothers, who are 13 and 16.
His mother also hopes the other driver will come forward.
"If they really did this, if they took off and did not come back, they should know I don't have any grief again him. All I need is my son's life."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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