Skateboarder Recovering After Suspected Drunk Driving Crash In Citrus Heights
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A Sacramento woman is still recovering after a suspected DUI hit and run in Citrus Heights. It happened last Thursday on Auburn Boulevard near Charwood Lane.
Kelly Cass, 27, was on her skateboard when an alleged drunk driver hit her, sending her into his windshield.
"My immediate reaction was 'where is she, is she alive?'" said Kayla Dowty, Kelly's sister.
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Dowty got the call from her dad Thursday evening. Kelly was riding her skateboard to work when Angel Diego Huerta collided with the 27-year-old. She flew through the windshield and into the passenger's side of the car. Huerta continued driving but eventually pulled over and fled. Meanwhile, an injured Kelly was able to call 911 herself.
"She's very strong and very brave," Dowty said. "I'm sure that there was a million things going through her brain."
Kelly has a broken arm, two shattered legs lost the blood supply to her feet.
"There will be many surgeries to try to piece together her bones," said Cristie Cass, Kelly's mother.
Cass is trying to focus on the injures Kelly doesn't have: no brain damage, no organ damage and no cuts on her head or face.
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"She remembers protecting her head with her arm," Cass said.
"Miraculous!" Dowty added.
Kelly had just moved to Sacramento in December and started her new job at a retail store in Citrus Heights.
"She had already found a gym," Cass said. "She was so excited to being able to go to the gym!"
Now, Kelly's family says she's looking at several surgeries to repair her legs.
Huerta was arrested and faces three felonies. But back in 2012, Huerta pled no contest to another Felony DUI charge after hitting a Sacramento County couple in a parked car.
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"My heart breaks for those people because I can't imagine what they're going through, having been through a similar accident," Dowty said. "Hearing that it's happened again, I'm sure it's just crushing for them and crushing for us as well."
Cass told CBS13 she can't focus too much on Huerta's fate right now.
"If I spend a lot of time thinking about him, that's just – too much negativity," Cass said. "She's going to need everything we have."
But Dowty says she's hoping justice will eventually be served.
"Our hope is that he can't hurt people in the future," Dowty said.
Huerta was expected in court Monday, but it's been rescheduled for Wednesday. He faces three felonies including kidnapping, DUI and hit and run.