Left inset: Alexander Rozos (Groce Funeral Home and Cremation Service). Right inset: Mauricio Roberto Melgar Delgado (Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office). Background: A “ghost bike” memorial set up in Asheville, N.C., where Mauricio Roberto Melgar Delgado allegedly killed cyclist Alexander Rozos in a hit-and-run (Facebook/Andrea Roubal).
A North Carolina father is suing the “largest hospital company in America” after one of its employees “ran over” his 26-year-old cyclist son and killed him with a 20,000-pound box truck before fleeing, his lawsuit alleges.
Alexander Rozos was riding his bicycle in Asheville on the 300 block of Swannanoa River Road near South Tunnel Road when Mauricio Roberto Melgar Delgado, 48, allegedly crossed through the intersection and mowed him down in July 2024, according to his father’s legal complaint, which was filed in Buncombe County Superior Court last week.
“Delgado caught up to, struck, and ran over [Rozos],” the complaint says, listing HCA Healthcare and Asheville’s Mission Hospital as defendants, along with Delgado, who is charged with felony hit-and-run inflicting serious injury or death.
“Delgado was an employee, agent or representative of HCA Defendants and Mission Hospital and was acting in the course and scope of his employment or work,” the complaint alleges. “On or about July 18, 2024, defendant Delgado owed duty to the public, including [Rozos], to operate his motor vehicle in careful and prudent manner, to keep proper lookout, to maintain proper control of his vehicle, and to obey the traffic laws of the state of North Carolina. Defendant Delgado breached said duty and was negligent, careless, and reckless.”
Asheville Police said in a press release after the alleged hit-and-run that Delgado was “traveling in the same lane and direction” as Rozos was biking down the road around 11:42 a.m. that Thursday. “The driver of the vehicle left the scene before officers arrived,” the release said. “Rozos succumbed to his injuries while on scene.”
Rozos’ father, Michael Rozos, tells the Asheville Citizen Times that his son was “riding his bike to work and was hit and killed for absolutely no reason.” He claims in his legal complaint that Delgado was “negligent, careless and reckless” by failing to keep a lookout and failing to keep his “20,000-pound large delivery vehicle” under control, according to the father’s attorney Thomas Killoren Jr.
The complaint alleges Delgado unsafely passed Rozos “by overtaking and passing bicycle proceeding in the same direction without passing at safe distance to the left thereof and/or by driving to the right side of the roadway before being safely clear of the overtaken bicycle,” per the document.
Delgado is also accused of “following too closely” and “failing to decrease speed as necessary to avoid colliding” with Rozos.
“Plaintiff’s Decedent suffered severe conscious pain and suffering in the final moments of his life,” the complaint says.
HCA Healthcare and Mission Hospital are accused of negligence and “failing to have in place policies and procedures to train and/or monitor their drivers,” while failing to enforce the ones that do exist, according to the complaint.
Michael Rozos and his lawyer allege that the hospital and parent company did not have an “adequate safety program for the safety and protection of the motoring public.” Delgado is accused of not having the “proper training and experience to be able to navigate” a large delivery vehicle “in a safe and effective manner,” nor did he have the appropriate “credentials and skills” to operate the box truck.
“HCA Defendants are vicariously liable for the negligent, careless, and reckless acts and omissions of their employee/agent,” the complaint concludes.
The Rozos family is seeking a jury trial and damages to cover hospital bills, funeral expenses, and compensation for the pain and suffering Delgado has allegedly caused.
Delgado was indicted in Buncombe County Superior Court and his case is still pending. HCA and Mission Hospital did not respond to Law&Crime’s requests for comment on Monday.
The Citizen Times reports that Rozos was a former hockey player for the South Carolina military college, The Citadel, and planned to join the Army before his death. He self-published a book on Amazon, “How To Leave An Impact On The World, Made Simple,” which was reportedly a fitness guide that describes various concepts of nutrition, psychology, and personal health while encouraging people to live a healthy lifestyle.
A day after his death, Rozos’ mother, Andrea Roubal, posted on Facebook about him being “senselessly killed” by Delgado, whom she described as the “driver who hit him” and “disappeared into broad daylight.”
Roubal wrote, “Thank you to those who helped Alex yesterday as he was lying in the road and who were there with him protecting him until the first responders got there. Alex loved life! He appreciated the little things. Most of us don’t take the time to appreciate the little things in life. He did! … Just rips my heart out thinking about it.”
