“Everything can change in the blink of an eye,” said Pauline Perez.
Perez says she’s heart broken for her friend Sandy Carpenter.
“Her wheelchair was on the side of the road right here,” said Perez.
She says on New Years day, the 60 year old’s life changed forever when she was struck by a hit-and-run driver near her home on Daniel Avenue.
“Her right leg from the knee down was broken really severely,” said Perez.
Perez says Carpenter, who uses a motorized scooter to get around, was returning from the nearby Family Dollar that evening.
“You know you hit them, there’s no way you don’t know you hit them, and you keep going,” said Perez.
Neighbors tell us they’ve warned Carpenter in the past against running errands at night due to the lack of light on the roads.
“Everybody told her not to do that especially at night,” said neighbor Rochelle Shurtleff.
Carpenter was airlifted to a local hospital where doctors were forced to remove her right leg in order to save her life.
Investigators say they are still looking for the driver of what they believe to be a white 1990s model Toyota Camry.
“Whoever hit her, the only chance that they’ve got as far as I’m concerned of redeeming anything in their value as a human being is they need to come forward,” said Perez.
