'He wont get away with it': Young mother struck by hit-and-run driver says arrest brings relief
Denver police arrested a man suspected of hitting four people with his car and then driving off. The hit-and-run happened just before midnight on Jan. 7 near Wazee Street and 18th Street in lower downtown Denver.
Summer Cervantes, who was one of the pedestrians who was hit, says she just wants to feel well again. She spoke with CBS News Colorado from her bed, with her two children and spouse supporting her.
"I haven't been able to do anything. I haven't been able to work. It's a huge setback because I can't drive as well. It was my right leg, so I can't control the pedals," she said.
Cervantes was enjoying a rare night out, celebrating a friend's birthday downtown when a driver allegedly went up onto the sidewalk with his car and hit her and three of her friends. The impact snapped her femur in two.
"The next thing you know, I'm on the ground and my leg is completely broken. It was bent backwards," Cervantes said.
"What was that pain like?" CBS News Colorado reporter Karen Morfitt asked.
"It was terrible, the worst pain you could ever imagine," she said.
Initially, she thought it was a drunk driver, but would later learn they had encountered the suspected driver in the parking lot just moments before the crash.
"It just doesn't make sense as to why someone would do that. I don't understand. It wasn't even an altercation. It was just us asking what they are looking at," she said.
The driver -- now identified by police as Orlando Martinez Jr. -- drove away, but police reports say surveillance video and a witness who snapped a photo of the license plate of that vehicle helped track him down.
He's now facing four counts of attempted murder and four counts of assault.
Cervantes says she is relieved.
"I am so happy. It feels relieving to me knowing there is justice being served and that he won't get away with it," she said.
One of the other three people she was with also suffered a serious head injury, but Cervantes will have the longest road to recovery.
With mounting medical bills and missed work, her family has started an online fundraiser page to help.
