For the first time since last month’s fatal wrong-way crash on Florida’s Turnpike, the family of one of the victims is speaking out.
Fifty-four-year-old Rodrigue Dor came to the United States a year and a half ago on a humanitarian program. His sister, Guerline Dorelus said he never planned to stay permanently.
“Before the accident a friend told me that he said you’re not gonna stay here. He has to buy a ticket to go back to Haiti,” Dorelus said.
Dor stayed with his sister in Miami before moving to Georgia, then spent the last two months in Indiana. On Aug. 12, he and two friends were heading back there when their van slammed into a semi-truck police said was making an illegal U-turn on the turnpike.
Dor’s son flew in from Switzerland for the funeral.
“I’m sad. I’m trist. Now I don’t have a father. Everyone has a father but me,” he said.
National spotlight, local pain
The accident made national headlines. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a press conference, and at the time, Florida’s Lt. Gov. Jay Collins traveled to California to escort Harjinder Singh, the driver of the semi-truck, back to Florida to face vehicular homicide charges.
Meanwhile, Dor’s family said they felt abandoned in the aftermath.
“People said a lot of things, but no one, there was no one call us, no one tell us nothing about that. Only the Haitian Consulate. We hear from the Consular nothing else,” Dorelus said.
Hoping for goodbyes, but efforts stalled
CBS News Miami
Since the crash, the family has been working with the Haitian Consulate to bring Dor’s 13- and 15-year-old daughters to the United States. Their efforts have stalled.
“We try to see if we can have a visa for them and then, you know, the embassy in Haiti and it closed and we don’t, we don’t have visa for them to go to the Dominican Republic. We take too long and they cannot come to see the funeral,” Dorelus said.
The funeral is scheduled in two days. The family said they would love for the girls to say goodbye in person, but for now, their plan is to stream the service and hope there is enough signal so the children can watch their father’s funeral via cellphone.
