PUEBLO – A Pueblo man remains hospitalized after a hit-and-run crash Thursday night and his family wants answers.
71-year-old Gary Amendola’s daughter Deana says she wants to help police find who was driving the car that plowed into her father at the intersection of Mesa and Evans Avenue – and then fled on foot.
“A car ran a red light, hit him at a 90-degree angle on the drivers side and actually flipped his Jeep,” she said of the crash.
Even as a former ER nurse, Lucero was shocked to see his injuries at the hospital.
She says he’s now recovering from four broken vertebrae and a broken rib.
“He was so banged up. I mean, he just had blood covering his face,” she described.
“It was awful.”
“I feel bad for him, just to see him in his cast and he can’t really walk and he has to take painkillers at the hospital,” said Deserio Lucero, Amendola’s 16-year-old grandson.
And now, Lucero’s on a mission to find answers, hoping a car abandoned at the scene will help lead her to the person responsible for the crash.
<figcaption class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-296148">Deana Lucero shared this picture taken at the scene of her father’s hit-and-run crash. She believes this vehicle plowed into him, and hopes someone will recognize it.“The only thing that makes me feel like I’m really doing anything is to get the word out there,” Lucero said.
“And I’m hoping that maybe pictures can be put up of this car and somebody will see it and say, ‘Hey, I know who was driving this car, I know what happened.'”
And she’s not giving up hope.
“We’re gonna find them,” she said, confidently. “It’s a matter of time. And i won’t stop until I do.”
We are still hoping to learn more information from Pueblo Police about this wreck. An accident report was not available online.
We’ll bring you any updates soon as we learn them.
