View Larger Map 82-year-old Jersey City man hit and dragged by SUV is identified by granddaughters; police say they issued driver 2 summonses Friday, July 02, 2010 By KEN THORBOURNE JOURNAL STAFF WRITER The mystery is over. But an 82-year-old man's life still hangs in the balance. Thanks to The Jersey Journal's front-page story yesterday about a senior citizen who was struck by an SUV in Jersey City and dragged 100 feet, the man has been identified as Rafael Rivera, 82, of Orchard Street, and his family is now at his bedside at the Jersey City Medical Center. "Thanks to you guys we found him," an emotional Yvette Ramos, Rivera's granddaughter, said yesterday. "We still would have been going crazy trying to find him." According to Ramos, Rivera left his seniors building at about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday to buy batteries for another resident and then never returned. A watchful and concerned building superintendent called her older sister, Gladys Torres, and her older sister called her, Ramos said. The two sisters started calling hospitals and police stations, but because Rivera had no identification he was listed as John Doe. But yesterday morning, a co-worker of her older sister at the A. Harry Moore School showed her sister The Jersey Journal story and family members connected the dots with the help of officials at the Jersey City Medical Center. Rivera was struck at Vroom Street and Bergen Avenue at about 10 a.m. Wednesday and remains in extremely critical condition. "He is all banged up. He is bleeding in his brain. His lungs collapsed. His right knee is broken. His left knee is dislocated. They have him on a ventilator," she said. The driver of the SUV, Rhaso Altidore, 28, of Hillsborough, was issued two summonses for failure to yield to a pedestrian and careless driving, police said yesterday. Ramos said Rivera, a retired factory worker, has a lot to live for, including a number of great-grandchildren. "We love our grandfather," she said. "He is the world to us." Journal staff writer Patrick Villanova contributed to this story.