An Oro Valley man may never walk again after being struck by a hit and run driver on Fourth of July. Now, his family is looking to the community for help.
Sixty-five-year-old David Knowlton struggled with multiple sclerosis for years. He often walked to help with the pain.
"He was out on his walk like he normally would do and he was hit from behind by a driver," said his son Seth.
Knowlton was struck while walking on the side of the road near Oracle and Calle Concordia. The driver immediately took off. Deputies later arrested 37-year-old John J. Pedicone after receiving an anonymous tip. He's being charged with failing to stop at an accident involving serious physical injury or death and aggravated assault.
The impact from the crash left Knowlton in critical condition.
"He suffered a fracture in his spine, a fracture in his neck, he had 14 broken ribs, collapsed lungs, all those things that would go with a pretty traumatic injury."
Doctors told Seth his father may never walk again.
"His prognosis at this point, outside miracles which we believe those things can happen, he'll be paralyzed from the chest down."
A long road lies ahead for Knowlton and his family.
"There's the unexpected bills, there's the therapies that are gonna be months and months and months of therapy, there's gonna be some home modification, all those things, wheelchairs."
The family has set up a GoFundMe account and is hoping to meet their $50,000 goal.
Meanwhile, Seth has a message for other drivers on the road.
"The choices that we make, whether it's distracted or not, they can have long lasting implications and it only takes a second for something devastating and permanent to happen."
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