Police Still Seeking Hit-Run Driver Who Killed Bicyclist

Police are still searching for the hit-and-run driver who killed a bicyclist two weeks ago.

Filogonio Vasquez, 29, was riding his bike home from a friend’s house about 7 p.m. Oct. 2 when he was hit by an unidentified vehicle at Collins Avenue and Hart Street, said Orange Police Department Detective Sean O’Toole.

Police found Vasquez lying in the road shortly after the accident occurred. He was taken to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana with massive head trauma. He died two days later after being removed from life-support systems.

O’Toole said that Vasquez was either dragged or thrown by the vehicle more than 50 feet from the spot where he was hit.

“The accident would have likely caused minor damage to the car, but it’s likely the impact would have smashed the windshield,” O’Toole said.

Orange police are attempting to pursue reports of two cars with crushed windshields that were seen by officers within 24 hours of the accident. A compact car with a damaged windshield was seen after a football game at nearby El Modena High School that same night by police, and another officer spotted a pickup truck with similar damage the next day, O’Toole said.

But police have no witnesses to the accident and are appealing to the public for help.

“We’ve not received one call,” O’Toole said. “At that time of night Friday someone may have seen something and not realized the severity of what happened.”

Anyone who has information about the accident should call O’Toole at (714) 744-7460.

Vasquez lived in the Villa Santiago apartments in Orange with his wife, Marciella, 19, and their two children, said family friend Debbie Valasquez. He had been in the United States for about five years and worked as a day laborer for several construction companies.

“I’ve never seen a man work harder in my life,” Valasquez said.