A man that was hospitalized in February after being struck by a car in Central Long Beach has died, his family said.
The man, who was identified as 75-year-old Sy Thongdy by his relatives, was crossing the street on Feb. 19, sometime around 6:34 p.m. in the area of Pacific Coast Highway and Pasadena Avenue, when he was hit by an unknown vehicle whose driver fled the scene, authorities said.
According to his family, Thongdy was on his way back home after visiting a funeral home in the area where he was paying respect to a relative that had recently died when he was struck. Police could not say whether the driver of the vehicle has been located.
A video posted online by LBCode3Media shows a bloodied Thongdy being treated at the scene by paramedics before being placed in the back of an ambulance and taken to a hospital with what authorities at the time said were non-life-threatening injuries.
But according to his family, Thongdy’s condition quickly deteriorated, which required him to be intubated.
“He had broken ribs, fractured neck bone, no circulation in his legs,” Thongdy’s son, Pat, said, adding that although CT scans showed his brain seemed to be functioning well, “the rest of his body was compromised.”
Over the last week, Pat said, Thongdy’s organs began failing, and on Friday, he died at the hospital with his family around him.
“That was the worst feeling ever,” Pat said, his voice trembling. “I only have one father, and he’s gone now.”
The Long Beach Police Department said Monday that the investigation remains ongoing. There is currently no known suspect information, police said, but “the preliminary investigations suggest the suspect’s vehicle was a dark-colored sedan.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include the status of the police investigation and to correct the age of Sy Thongdy.
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