Investigators: Man Suffered Head Trauma In South Greensburg Hit-And-Run Crash
SOUTH GREENSBURG (KDKA) -- Police are still looking for the driver involved in a hit-and-run crash that seriously injured a man in South Greensburg on Friday.
The incident happened Friday in front of DeGennaro's Restaurant on Broad Street.
Lauren Gerritsen spent much of Tuesday in a hospital intensive care unit with her 86-year-old grandfather, who remains in critical condition.
She asked KDKA not to identify him by name.
She took a photo of her grandfather, who she affectionately calls Fritz, in DeGennaro's Restaurant, where they had dinner about half an hour or so before they walked outside and he was struck by a car.
"He has three different areas of the brain that are bleeding, which are luckily stable. His wrist is fractured. Several facial bones are fractured. He has different areas in his spine that are fractured," Gerritsen told KDKA-TV.
Gerritsen said the car, believed to be a Chevrolet Cruze, came speeding down Broad Street, as she, her mother and grandfather were getting into their parked car.
After her grandfather was struck, she immediately confronted the driver.
"I ran over to the vehicle and I started just pounding on the back of it, and I was just like, 'You hit him, you hit him.' That's when he got out," Gerritsen said. "He yelled, 'Is he OK?' And then he saw my grandfather face down in a pool of blood and jumped right back in his vehicle and he sped off."
Gerritsen wants the driver to come forward; she has something she wants to say to him.
"I think that you have to be the biggest coward in the world to walk away from something like that. You know that you did something wrong and you need to own up to it. You need to do the right thing. Our family is devastated by this," she said.
Watch Ross Guidotti's report --
Restaurant owner Jeanine DeGennaro says when someone visits her South Greensburg restaurant, they are like family.
"Anybody who walks in my door, this is my living room, you know, and this was somebody coming to see us and spend time with us and break bread here," DeGennaro said.
So it's pretty easy to understand why she was angry and hurt after the accident.
"This is just a horrible situation, that this person just didn't stop," she said.
South Greensburg Police released a picture of the vehicle involved.
"It was bad. Very traumatic. Lots of people crying. It was a lot of blood," DeGennaro said.
While the suspect took off from where the alleged hit-and-run happened, witnesses got a good look at the car and have the description to police.
They say it's a newer Chevrolet Cruze sedan that's dark gray in color with chrome accents on the doors. The vehicle has some body damage.
DeGennaro has started a GoFundMe page to raise money for the victim's medical costs and other needs.
"I'm so sorry that this happened, and you have our support, and we hope that he recovers in due time," DeGennaro said.
