The family of 38-year-old James McCord has been by his hospital bedside since Saturday, June 8.
Earlier that morning, just before 1 a.m., McCord was walking across 23 Avenue, just east of 85 Street, when he was hit by a car. He was in a marked crosswalk.
Police said a vehicle in the outside lane stopped for McCord, but they believe a black car in the inside lane, possibly an Acura, hit McCord before it drove off.
That car may be missing a driver-side mirror, police said.
McCord’s younger sister, Tiffany Wigmore, said her brother was just minutes from his home in Mill Woods and remembers the moment before he was hit.
“He knows he didn’t have his headlights on,” Wigmore said. “He said at the last second he saw it.”
McCord was thrown through the air and left lying on a nearby grass median.
“He’s in terrible pain,” said McCord’s mother, Sherry McCord.
“He screamed in pain and that’s the worst thing a mother wants to hear.”
His injuries include a gash on his forehead, fractured wrist, broken foot and shattered knee. Family said doctors are waiting for the swelling to go down before they can operate on his knee.
McCord’s mother and sister said they are angry and frustrated that the driver didn’t stop to make sure James was alive.
“I want justice,” said Sherry McCord. “I just want the person that hit him to come forward. That’s all I want — come forward — see what you’ve done to my son.”
Wigmore said she understands shock can make people do “crazy and explainable” things, but she is pleading with the driver to go to police.
“We get accidents happen,” said Wigmore, “but if you just come forward we wouldn’t be so angry.
“The anger comes from you just leaving my brother there.”
McCord’s family also wants to hear from those who did stop. They believe without those witnesses, their brother and son could have died on the side of the road.
“We just want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts,” said an emotional Wigmore.
McCord isn’t sure what his future will look like after surgery, but asked his mother to deliver a message from him.
“How could you hit him and leave him on the side of the road like a rodent?”
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