Parents of 24-year-old critically injured in Gardiner Expressway crash beg driver to come forward

The parents of Dante Racioppo are appealing to the driver of a Mercedes SUV that allegedly struck the car their son was travelling in and left the scene to contact Toronto police.

Sil Racioppo and his wife Lianne told Global News exclusively they learned their 24-year-old son had been involved in a crash on the eastbound Gardiner Expressway near Highway 427 at 12:10 a.m. Tuesday after getting a call from the brother of Daniel Lee, who was driving the Acura EL Dante was a passenger in.

Dante is on life support at St. Michael’s Hospital and has already undergone three surgeries to treat his injuries, including internal bleeding, broken ribs, a broken pelvis, a broken femur, a damaged spleen and a punctured lung.

Lee, 25, was also seriously injured as were two other female passengers in the car he was driving when it was rear-ended by two cars, the first of which fled the scene.

“It was pretty grim the first day, really (Dante) shouldn’t be alive – the amount of blood that he lost, he shouldn’t be alive,” Sil Racioppo said outside the family home.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It was pretty grim the first day, really (Dante) shouldn't be alive - the amount of blood that he lost, he shouldn't be alive," Sil Racioppo said outside the family home.

Dante was sitting in the back seat when a Mercedes SUV hit them from behind – shattering the rear window of the Acura – before the driver of the Mercedes drove off.

“If (the driver of the Mercedes) had of stayed, his lights would have alerted the drivers around him,” he said.

Dante’s father said Lee told him the Acura was so damaged that it was sputtering and he was having a tough time getting it started again.

“And he just stopped the car and turned around to look to see everybody else to see if they were OK or not. That’s when Dante my son said calmly, ‘Listen Daniel, we’re in the middle of the road, we better get off the road.’ And just as he finished saying that, Lee said he looked through the back window and he saw the lights.”

READ MORE: Multiple people injured in crash on eastbound Gardiner Expressway

Lianne said according to Lee, her son’s injuries were not serious after the first collision.

“They were OK, and they could have been OK at that point,” she said.

That’s when the car was hit again, this time by an airport limo. The 76-year-old driver and his passenger were also injured but remained on scene to help Dante and his friends.

The family said their son and the three other occupants of the car were returning after spending New Year’s in New York City. The four met at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Don Mills neighbourhood. Lianne said they were in New York on a sort of “pilgrimage” by attending some church meetings and visiting religious sites while there.

Now Sil and Lianne sit vigil by their son’s bedside at the hospital grateful to the first responders who transported Dante to hospital and to the staff at St. Mike’s.

“He was brought in as a John Doe,” Sil said, referring to the fact that paramedics couldn’t find identification on their son when he was rushed into an ambulance and subsequently into surgery.

As for the driver of the Mercedes, “We’re just hoping that he’ll do or she’ll do the right thing and just come forward and just do what they need to do, I mean this is serious,” he said.

Toronto police said officers are still trying to find the suspect.

“We’re looking for you. We’re not going to stop looking for you – it doesn’t matter how long it takes,” Const. Clint Stibbe said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We're looking for you. We're not going to stop looking for you - it doesn't matter how long it takes," Const. Clint Stibbe said.

A Facebook page has been set up for friends of Dante Racioppo. So far there are more than 500 members.