Salt Lake City Woman Badly Injured In Hit-And-Run Crash
Nov 10, 2020, 11:23 PM
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — A family was hoping Tuesday to find the driver who hit their loved one and left her badly injured in the middle of the road.
Family members said 48-year-old Raelynne Woolman was walking home from doing laundry with her niece just before 8 p.m. on Nov. 5 when she was hit by a car at 1200 West and 800 North and was dragged roughly 16 feet before the vehicle fled.
“I’m sure the person didn’t mean to hit her,” said sister Lesley Shuman. “The fact that they drove off is the hard part we’re trying to understand.”
A witness found the woman, located her phone and called for help, according to the family.
Shuman said the collision left her sister with a broken femur, pelvis, arm, wrist and ribs. She also suffered a collapsed lung and brain injury.
“The extent of the brain injury — we don’t know the damage it’s going to cause,” Shuman said.
The family said Woolman’s recovery is expected to take one to two years, in part to some disabilities she already had.
“My sister is disabled and she’s a fighter,” Shuman said. “She was born deaf for the first five years. The doctors told her she would never walk or talk and she has beaten those odds.”
Shuman said Woolman “loves everybody” and would “give the shirt off her back.”
Detective Michael Ruff with the Salt Lake City Police Department said there is only a vague description of the suspect vehicle — a gray or silver four-door sedan.
He said anyone with information should call Salt Lake City police at 801-799-3000.
“We just want justice and to find out who did this,” Shuman said. “She doesn’t deserve to be left in the road the way she was.”
The family has set up a fundraising page* on Facebook to help offset medical expenses.
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