By Anne Geggis
The three traffic citations a Lantana woman received after driving her 2020 Kia Soul into a group of cyclists on State Road A1A in Gulf Stream in January — injuring three critically — won’t leave any marks on her driving record.
A judge dismissed Betty Ann Ruiz’s tickets on April 3 after the Florida Highway Patrol officer who wrote the tickets for her did not appear for the April 3 hearing. The trooper, Andy Ong, was on approved leave, said Lt. Indiana Miranda, FHP spokeswoman.
The dismissed citations carried a $116 fine for failing to have proof of insurance, $166 for driving with a suspended license and $166 for failing to keep to a single lane.
A report on the crash shows that Ruiz, 77, was not tested for drugs or alcohol after the incident, but Miranda said that Ruiz agreed to a blood draw for which the results will be available in three to six months.
Also, although Ruiz’s failure to stay in her lane was attributed to “seizure, epilepsy, blackout,” in the first report, that report has been updated, according to Miranda.
Now the report attributes Ruiz’s failure to stay in her lane as fatigue instead of a medical emergency. Ruiz, who court records show attended both a March 20 pretrial hearing and the April 3 hearing, could not be reached, despite calls to more than a half dozen numbers listed for her and a visit to the Lantana address listed on her ticket. It appears the dwelling is not currently occupied, with construction debris in front. A man leaving the site said he had not heard Ruiz’s name before.
Her license remains suspended, Miranda said.
Five people were taken to the hospital as a result of the crash that started with Ruiz’s swerve into the wrong lane. The number of casualties prompted a discussion throughout the coastal areas about the tight space drivers and cyclists share. Several municipalities have pledged to find a way to make the scenic route safer for cyclists.
One of those critically injured, Diego Rico, 37, of Coconut Creek, said that no investigators ever contacted him to hear his view of the crash that broke his femur, dislocated his shoulder and shattered his pelvis. He expects that his injuries will keep him out of work for another two months.
“Literally, they are leaving us with nothing,” said Rico, who said he had 20 stitches to his knee and 39 staples to his hip and racked up medical bills totalling more than $1 million.
In response to a question about the citations’ dismissal, a spokesman for State Attorney David Aronberg said that the office doesn’t get involved in noncriminal cases.
The crash report on the Jan. 4 predawn incident found that Ruiz was heading south when she crossed the center line in the 2400 block of North Ocean Boulevard alongside the Gulf Stream Golf Club course.
The most severely injured person had to be revived before being taken to Delray Medical Center via the county’s medical helicopter. He was released from the hospital nearly two months after the crash and has not fully regained his ability to walk and talk, Rico said.
Rico said that the driver has never contacted him or any of his fellow bicycle club members. He is part of the club Galera do Pedal, which is Portuguese for “Pedal Guys,” that regularly cycles along A1A from Deerfield Beach to Lake Worth Beach.
“She never tried to get in touch with us or say or do anything,” Rico said. “She’s acting like she’s not at fault.”
That Ruiz is not being held responsible in any way rankles Michael Simon, president of the Boca Raton Bicycle Club.
“It should be taken seriously, especially with something like this,” said Simon, whose law practice is focused on civil litigation and corporate transactions. “Even if she had a medical incident. She shouldn’t have been on the road to begin with.
“She shouldn’t haven’t been driving with a suspended license — we learn that in driving school,” Simon continued. “And she had no insurance. The insurance is there to protect all of us, including her, and she didn’t have any. She shouldn’t have been driving.”
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