More than a year after a hit-and-run left Jonas Flavius fighting for his life and facing a tough recovery, his family is now mourning his death and asking the driver responsible to “do the right thing”.
Flavius’ sister, Rochella Emmanuel, shared her story on TikTok, describing how the April 6, 2025 incident affected her brother and asking the driver who hit him and left to come forward.
Emmanuel said Flavius was hit on the Bexon Highway and suffered serious injuries. She said the driver did not stop to help or check if he was alive.
“My brother had to be in a coma for almost two weeks,” Emmanuel recalled.
She said Flavius later had surgery, including having metal supports put in his leg and arm, and he also had broken ribs.
But waking up from the coma was just the start of a long and painful recovery.
Emmanuel said her brother needed therapy and medication, and he kept having blood clots and swelling in his legs. More than a year after the crash, she said he still had not fully recovered.
The family hoped Flavius was slowly getting better. Then they got a call on August 10 that they never expected.
“I {got} a call notifying me that my brother was found unresponsive on the floor and he was pronounced dead,” Emmanuel said.
She said seeing her brother taken away in a body bag was almost impossible to understand.
“Living your entire life with siblings, you never think that one day you will have to bury one of your siblings or be part of the planning of your sibling’s funeral,” she said. “We are at this junction now and it is so unreal. It feels like we’re just in a bad dream.”
She said the loss has devastated the whole family. She recalled seeing one of her sisters have a panic attack as Flavius’ body was taken away, and their mother now has to bury her son.
“My brother never fully recovered from those injuries,” Emmanuel said.
She said his death was caused by the effects of the crash, though her statement did not include an official medical cause of death.
For the family, their grief is even worse because, according to Emmanuel, the person who caused the hit-and-run has never taken responsibility.
She made a direct appeal to drivers to understand that their actions on the road can have lifelong consequences.
“Drivers, do better,” she pleaded.
Emmanuel also appealed directly to the person she believes was behind the wheel that day.
“If this video comes across the person that actually caused this accident and left my brother for dead, do the right thing,” she said.
Flavius leaves behind three children, and Emmanuel said their mother will now have to help care for them. The family is also facing funeral costs and unpaid medical bills from his long recovery.
“My brother is dead. He has three children left behind that my mother now has to care for,” she said. “There is funeral cost that has to be taken care of, there is medical bills that has to be taken care of, and all this falls back on the same family who has to come to terms with the fact that my brother is not coming back.”
For Emmanuel, the TikTok video was also a heartbreaking final update for people who had followed her brother’s recovery since the crash.
“Some of you were asking for updates on my brother,” she said. “This is the update. My brother is no more.”
