BOCA RATON, Fla. — Friends and family of a bicyclist hit and killed by a suspected DUI driver in Boca Raton last weekend continue to mourn his death.
WPTV reporter Michael Hoffman shared their grief after he sat down with a close friend of the victim, Felipe Moraes.
"It's devastating," Yusniel Fernandez, a close friend of Moraes for more than a decade, said. "It's starting to sink in a little bit more."
He and other friends that WPTV spoke with said Moraes was the life of the party. They said he was an innovative, curious thinker and a talented cook who loved inviting friends to his backyard barbecues.
"He would give you a hug, kiss you on the cheek," Fernandez said. "He was very joyful like that. That's what he was. He brought people together."
Boca Raton
‘Now he’s gone’: Boca Raton family remembers man killed in DUI bike crash
Fernandez echoed a warning to others who love to cycle as much as his friend did.
"There's definitely going to be a void left in our family and his family," Fernandez said. "It just teaches you how to ... live in the moment because tomorrow is never guaranteed."
The driver arrested in the crash, Thomas Vayianos, 35, of New Jersey, faces a charge of DUI causing death to a person. Vayianos is being held on a $150,000 bond.
