CBS2 Exclusive: Brooklyn Hit-And-Run Victim Hopes Surveillance Video Will Lead To Arrest
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A hit-and-run victim who is unable to walk or work now hopes surveillance video will lead to an arrest.
Kernel Simon suffered a shattered right leg. He said his doctors told him it will take months and a series of surgeries before he can walk again, CBS2's Dave Carlin reported.
Simon was crossing Nostrand Avenue shortly before 5 a.m. Monday, heading to the train station to make his way to Manhattan where he works as an officer supervisor.
He also plays drums in the Brooklyn Steel Orchestra and his injury will prevent him from performing with the group for a number of holiday concerts.
He admitted to CBS2 that he was not in the crosswalk, but he said he looked both ways and didn't see any cars coming.
Surveillance video from a deli captured the moment the driver slammed into Simon.
"All I saw was a light, then I was just on the floor in pain," he said.
Police do not have a good description of the driver, not even knowing if it was a man or a woman.
Witnesses said the vehicle was a dark colored BMW SUV.
East Flatbush residents said that section of Nostrand Avenue is busy night and day and they aren't surprised about the hit-and-run.
"That's why it's called the junction -- everything merges here," Hank Kwon said. "There's like 20 things happening here at once. There's buses going in, there's dollar vans."
Some residents said cars speeding is only part of the problem.
Jaywalking appears to be an epidemic as people rush to catch trains and buses.
"We have to teach our pedestrians how to cross the road," Liz Grant said.
Simon said he is grateful that in time he will bounce back from this setback.
"I feel lucky because not a lot of people make it out of getting hit by a car," he said.
But to make his recovery complete, he wants the hit-and-run driver caught.
