Public Safety
Hit-and-run victim placed on life support days before his wedding day
Loved ones are making a gut-wrenching plea for tips after a hit-and-run crash that left a man on life support, days before his wedding day.
“I don’t know what to do without him,” said Sami Johnson, the daughter of Steven Johnson
“I’m heartbroken. He was my everything,” said Karlene Moen, Johnson’s fiancee.
Johnson – a father of six and a grandfather – was riding his motorcycle to work at a Lakeside trucking company Friday when he crashed around 5:30 a.m. on southbound Highway 67 just past Willows Road. His first call was to his fiancee.
“He sounded hurt. He sounded scared, and he was pissed off,” said Moen.
He posted photos of his injured leg on Facebook. He told Moen a woman in a car cut him off, causing him to crash.
“He said, ‘We locked eyes. She knows I was there … She just left me and left me laying in the road,'” said Moen.
Soon after the accident, he developed chest pains. He was rushed into surgery with a torn aorta. On Sunday morning, Johnson went into cardiac arrest. He was revived but suffered severe brain damage. He was placed on life support. Moen says the he will be taken off life support in the coming days, and his organs will be donated.
His wedding planned for Saturday will now be a ‘Celebration of Life’ service.
“He’ll never see me in my wedding dress that I bought especially for him,” said a tearful Moen.
She’s hoping the driver that caused the crash will be identified.
We just want justice. We want her to know she killed him and left him there,” said Moen.
“Who could leave my dad in the road? I just want to know,” said Sami Johnson.
Moen says Johnson described the car as a gray, compact car. If you have any information, you’re asked to call the CHP office in El Cajon at 619-401-2000.
By: NBC Palm Springs
August 7, 2019
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