North Texas

Family of Hit-and-Run Victim Pleads for Driver, Witnesses to Come Forward

This should be a happy time for Rucci Carlos III's family. Seven weeks ago he became a new father when his daughter, Sofia, was born. Instead, the family is spending their days at John Peter Smith hospital in Fort Worth, where Rucci is recovering after being hit by a vehicle as he rode his skateboard Tuesday night.

"It was a very hard impact," said father Rucci Carlos Jr. "Very hard. He told me that."

The elder Rucci said his son is expected to recover, but will require more surgery. The driver who hit him has not been caught.

"I don't have anything to say," said Èlyssa Mendoza, Rucci Carlos III's fiancee, though tears. "I just wish they would have stopped, you know? They just left him there."

He was hit in the 700 block of Pipeline in Hurst as he rode his skateboard home from getting food. The family says he took the skateboard because his car broke down.

"He was skating to my house to come see me and the baby," Mendoza said. "We have a 7-week-old daughter."

There are surveillance cameras at every angle in the intersection where he was hit. Police are looking for witnesses, and the family hopes whoever did it will surrender to police.

"Hopefully he don't got no kids, because the pain that comes to me, to her, the whole family," said the elder Rucci. "Hopefully we can them 'em."

If you have any information about the hit-and-run crash Tuesday in the 700 block of Pipeline in Hurst at 10:45 p.m., call Hurst police.

The family has set up a GoFundMe account to help with Carlos III's medical bills.

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