LAFAYETTE PARISH, La. (KLFY)— The family of a New Orleans woman is speaking out after a hit and run crash in Lafayette Parish left their loved one paralyzed from the neck down.
According to Louisiana State Police, Lynn Johnson was traveling Eastbound on I-10 near Scott on May 29.
A witness says a white truck slammed into Johnson’s Jeep, sending her vehicle over 120 feet away. Her vehicle overturned twice and landed across the median westbound.
The crash happened just two days before Johnson’s birthday so instead of celebrating her birthday that week, she woke up in the hospital where doctors told her she may never walk again.
“Her neck was broken. Her arm had a bad fracture on it. Her back had two vertebrae broken, and all they said was she was paralyzed from the neck down,” Sylvia Clark, Johnson’s sister said.
Johnson spent her 52nd birthday at Ochsner Lafayette General paralyzed.
State Police say the vehicle that hit her ran her off I-10 before fleeing the scene.
“It hurts. They don’t know who did it and why they did it. They could have stopped to see if she was okay, but they didn’t. A witness did. A witness went to save my sister’s life,” Clark told News Ten. “My sister said she remembers seeing a white lady pulling her out, but that’s all she could remember.”
The Jennings woman who saved Johnson told police a white pickup truck was responsible, and men were inside.
She didn’t, however, catch the truck’s license plate before it sped away. No traffic cameras caught the incident either.
Johnson’s sister says her crash was so severe, the driver knew what they had done.
“He had to. He had to know what he did. To keep on going, whoever it was, to keep on going, it’s wrong,” Clark said. “They need to go turn themselves in for what they’ve done.”
It’s been over a month since the crash, and Johnson is still in the hospital, unable to move.
She’s hopeful she’ll be able to walk again one day, and she’s hopeful the driver who paralyzed her will be caught.
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“I don’t know if they were drunk, scared, or what, but they need to turn themselves in. Justice needs to be served for what he’s done, for what whoever’s done,” Clark added.
If you have any information about the driver that fled the scene, contact Louisiana State Police.
