Hit-and-run crash victim speaks out in hopes of finding driver
HENDRICKS COUNTY & MARION COUNTY, Ind. (WISH) — Exactly one month ago, an Indianapolis woman was hit and nearly killed by a vehicle that left the scene of a crash. Even the responding officers with the Avon Police Department thought she wouldn’t make it, but she did.
It happened on Saturday, Dec. 23 around 8:30 p.m, just south of Raceway Road and Rockville Road near Jackson Street. The truck Whitney Kennedy and her coworker were driving couldn’t get under a train overpass. Whitney got out of the truck to guide her coworker as they turned the truck around.
“At that point, there were no cars in either direction, so I don’t really know how I got hit. I just woke up in the hospital,” Kennedy said.
It was just two days after her 36th birthday. She was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries following the hit and run crash. Kennedy said doctors found fractured hips, a broken tail bone and sacrum, injuries to her back and a serious head injury.
“I’m just thankful to be alive. Thankful to still be walking,” Whitney said. “I still don’t have the greatest memory and that’s probably the hardest thing as an adult. I don’t remember much.”
The image of her in the hospital is very different from the picture of health Kennedy has been most her life. She’s a basketball lover, who served in the Army for more than three years.
“Sleeping is complicated. Waking up is complicated. The amount of meds I’m on any given day probably would drive anybody else to drink, but it’s life,” Kennedy said.
According to the Avon Police report, Whitney’s coworker could only tell officers it may have been a dark-colored SUV that hit her. Debris left at the scene indicates that vehicle may be a GM, but investigators and Whitney hope someone will come forward with information that could lead to the driver.
“It’s over. I can still walk. I can still move and with help I’ll get even beyond that, but it shows great character and great morals, to not necessarily tell on yourself, but own your mistake. It was a mistake,” Kennedy said. “I’m not a revenge person or anything like that. Things happen and this was for me to grow.”
Kennedy said not knowing who hit her and why they left the scene has made recovery more difficult, but she hopes to return to work soon.
If you know anything about what happened or noticed damage on a vehicle that matches the description given, you’re asked to call the Avon Police Department at 317-272-4485.