Open Letter Of Thanks From Dad Whose Son Survived Serious Motorcycle Accident

RIVERHEAD, NY — Almost four months after a terrifying motorcycle crash left his son seriously injured, a grateful father is thanking the public for their prayers.

"My final update about my son and a big thank you to all that prayed and helped him out," Shawn Lopez wrote on Facebook recently.

"Lee was cleared by doctors to return to work and he started a new job today. It's an overwhelming feeling of joy to know that he is well and able, and that he fought hard to recover. It's all so unreal still to me," he wrote.

Despite an intensive search, Lopez said, "nobody claimed responsibility, nor was caught — but that person will have to live with that forever."

He's chosen, however, to focus on his son's full recovery.

"This is just a little celebration for my son Lee but most of all a big thank you for all of your prayers, help and support. Thank you. God Bless," he wrote.

In November, the search intensified for the driver who hit a motorcyclist in Calverton in October and fled the scene, police said.

Suffolk County Crime Stoppers and Riverhead Town Police detectives have sought the public’s help to identify the unknown vehicle that hit the Harley-Davidson motorcycle operated by Lee Lopez, who was traveling eastbound on Route 25A, near the intersection with Route 25 in Calverton, when he was hit by an unknown vehicle that fled the scene on October 21 at approximately 11:30 p.m., police said.

Lopez suffered non-life threatening injuries, police said.

The vehicle would have sustained damage to its front end, police said.

Detectives have asked anyone with information on the vehicle or driver of the vehicle to call Riverhead Town Police at 631-727-4500 ext. 328.

Suffolk County Crime Stoppers offers a cash reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to an arrest. Anyone with information about this crime is asked to call anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.

When the crash first took place, Shawn Lopez, Lee's father, turned to social media for help to find the driver who allegedly struck his son and dragged him for as much as 200 yards and then fled the scene, leaving the young man for dead, he said.

His son, he said, was struck near the haunted house attraction.

Thankfully, he said soon after, his son was recovering at Stony Brook University Hospital.

"Lee is banged up but no broken bones but a concussion and in extreme pain. Please share this to as many people as you can and report to Riverhead police. I just heard that a police officer said Lee was not only hit but dragged 200 feet. I am in a rage of fury within myself. God help this gutless savage. Please keep your ears and eyes open so we can find this animal," he wrote at the time.

Without the help of people on the scene, his son "would not be with us," Lopez wrote. His son, he wrote, was "left for dead in the center of the road without lights and foggy conditions."

His son, Lopez said, suffered fractures, facial cuts, sore muscle and a possible tear in his left shoulder.

Patch photo courtesy of Shawn Lopez.