JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A devastating hit-and-run incident has left 66-year-old Edward Hopkins Jr. critically injured after he was struck while returning to his nursing home. Hopkins, who relies on a wheelchair, was hit Thursday evening around 7:20 p.m. as he made his way back to Riverwood Nursing Home from Harvey\u2019s grocery store. The driver responsible fled the scene without stopping.<\/p>\n
Hopkins\u2019 family said he is independent and regularly goes to the grocery store by himself. On the night of the crash, he was traveling on the sidewalk at the corner of Terry and Randy Road when a speeding car hit him without warning.<\/p>\n
His sister, Pat Bales, described the horrific scene: \u201cThe person did not stop. They didn\u2019t stop. They didn\u2019t care that. They have hit another individual.\u201d She added, \u201cNobody deserves to be left in the road to die.\u201d<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n Bales said Hopkins was thrown into the air, with his shoes flung in opposite directions. Another sister, Tyshelle Hunter, has been by his side at Memorial Hospital\u2019s ICU, where Hopkins remains heavily sedated. He is wearing a back brace and suffers from multiple broken ribs, a fractured clavicle, and a broken back.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are really in shock that anything like this will happen to him,\u201d Hunter said.<\/p>\n A disturbing image at the scene shows Hopkins\u2019 wheelchair shattered on the sidewalk. Lodged in the wreckage is a piece of the suspect\u2019s vehicle \u2014 a fragment of a white Hyundai\u2019s front bumper. Hunter holds the bumper piece, which could be critical in identifying the vehicle and driver responsible.<\/p>\n Neighbors and EMS rushed to Hopkins\u2019 aid, likely saving his life. However, the driver who hit him has not been found. A police report has been filed, and the family is now asking for the community\u2019s help.<\/p>\n \u201cIf anyone has seen what may have happened to our brother, we are asking for your help,\u201d Hunter urged.<\/p>\n Hopkins is in stable condition. Authorities urge anyone with information to contact the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office or Crime Stoppers.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A devastating hit-and-run incident has left 66-year-old Edward Hopkins Jr. critically injured after he was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[982,6463,11136,11134,6433,5025,11144,11143,969,116,118,117,6458,11135,634,11142,9476,9475,11140,11139,11137,11138,11141],"class_list":["post-12936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-action_news","tag-crime_stoppers","tag-edward","tag-edward_hopkins_jr","tag-ems","tag-harvey","tag-hopkins","tag-hyundai","tag-jack","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jacksonville_sheriffs_office","tag-jona_govino","tag-local","tag-memorial_hospital","tag-nicholas","tag-nicholas_brooks","tag-pat_bills","tag-randy_road","tag-riverwood","tag-terry","tag-ty_shell_hunter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}