Bend hit-and-run victim urges driver to turn self in

A Bend woman shared her memories Tuesday from a shocking, painful Friday night downtown when she was struck in a crosswalk by a pickup truck that police said fled the scene.

Angela Kephart, left bruised and battered from the collision, sat down with NewsChannel 21 on Monday, saying she hopes the person who hit her will turn themselves in.

“I felt somebody hit me, and I felt my head go down on the pavement and my elbow went down,” she recalleid. “I was unconscious, maybe for a couple of seconds, maybe minutes.”

Police and fire medics responded at 9:13 p.m. Friday to the reported vehicle-vs.-pedestrian hit-and-run crash near Northwest Bond Street and Franklin Avenue, said Lt. Brian Kindel.

Officers arrived to find the injured woman, who was taken to St. Charles Bend with non-life-threatening injuries, Kindel said.

Kephart said, “It just feels pretty heartless for somebody to just leave somebody there possibly dead in the street.”

Police said the woman was crossing Bond Street in the marked crosswalk on the north side of the Franklin Avenue intersection when she was struck by a vehicle described by witnesses as a gray or black pickup, possibly a Dodge Ram 2500 or similar, lifted with oversized tires, the lieutenant said.

The Bend Police Department asked the public’s assistance in finding the suspect vehicle. Anyone with information was asked to call police through the Deschutes County non-emergency dispatch line at 541-693-6911.

Kephart posted a note and hospital-bed photo to Facebook on Saturday, saying she was knocked unconscious and suffered a fractured skull and other injuries, also asking witnesses to contact police. Kindel said he could not immediately confirm the victim’s ID but that Kephart’s information was consistent with what investigators learned at the crash scene.

Kephart also talked to NewsChannel 21 on Sunday by phone, recalling what happened.

“I think I was about three-quarters of the way through the crosswalk to the other side of the street,” she said.

“And all I know is I felt like I got pushed from my right hip, so I assume that’s where he hit me with his car,” she said. “And then i got hit in the head, and I think that was me hitting the concrete. You don’t expect to just get hit crossing the street at a crosswalk, on a red light, you don’t.”

Kephart also said the left side of her face is numb and she may need another surgery to repair nerves.

Family and friends have set up a GoFund me page for Kephart’s medical expenses.