MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – The family of a woman critically injured in a hit-and-run crash is speaking out, desperate for answers and justice as their daughter slowly recovers from devastating injuries.
Rebecca Carter, 37, was riding her bicycle on Halls Mill Road last month around 8 pm when she was struck by a car that fled the scene, leaving her with life-threatening injuries on the roadside.
“Accidents happen. I get that. But when you leave her on the side of the road. That’s not acceptable,” said Dalene Carter, Rebecca’s mother.
Carter was thrown to the side of the road after being hit, and the driver left her alone, according to her mother. A witness called for help, and Carter was rushed to the hospital with critical injuries.
“When she first arrived, she had bleeding in the brain, swelling of the brain, they had to put a bolt in her head to release the pressure from her brain, we don’t know how bad the brain damage is going to be,” Dalene Carter said.
Carter’s injuries include a broken shoulder, six broken ribs, seven broken vertebrae, a broken hip, abdominal and intestinal bleeding, punctured lungs and a spleen that had to be removed.
More than a month later, Carter remains hospitalized. Her mother has stayed by her bedside throughout the recovery, losing her job in the process.
“It didn’t look promising and I didn’t want to leave her. I lost my job in the process of it,” Dalene Carter said.
Carter’s parents live in Tennessee, making it difficult for her father, Ralph Carter, to be with his daughter as often as he wants.
“I want to be with them. But I can’t with my job telling me you got to be at work,” Ralph Carter said.
Every weekend, Ralph drives from Tennessee to Mobile to be with his wife and daughter as they wait for answers.
The family says Rebecca Carter has strong faith and believe her life was spared for a reason.
“She really just was very kind. She would give you the shirt off her back. Now, you know, we don’t know the damage. There’s times that she knows who we are and then there’s times that she doesn’t know who we are,” Dalene Carter said.
Carter was released from intensive care this weekend and is expected to be transferred to UAB Hospital in Birmingham on Monday for rehabilitation, where she will hopefully learn to walk and talk again.
The Carter family has created a GoFundMe to help with travel and lodging expenses during this difficult time.
