Victim of scary hit-and-run crash in Bushwick, Brooklyn shares survival story: exclusive
BUSHWICK, Brooklyn (WABC) -- A man is lucky to be alive after being blindsided by a car, which struck him so hard, it sent him flying from one end of a crosswalk in Brooklyn, to the other.
It happened at Wyckoff Avenue and Himrod Street in Bushwick around 10:30 p.m. on April 24.
Video shows the hit-and-run crash that could have killed 32-year-old Ruari Fay-Handebeaux.
Recovering from his hospital bed, he managed to speak exclusively with Eyewitness News.
He's a revenant. He can't open his eye and has a headband of stitches and a fractured pelvis, just to start.
"Broken ankle, broken humorous, bunch of fractures in my skull," he said.
Fay-Handebeaux was standing in the crosswalk at the intersection. He was thrown over the intersection and landed on the other side of the crosswalk.
"He was thrown, he gets absolutely launched, maybe 10 to 15 feet right into the middle of the intersection, and just left there," said the victim's friend Kevyn Mayhew.
Corinne Hultman and Mayhew are two of Fay-Handebeaux's best friends, and they want the driver found.
"For you to be so reckless that you could've ended his life," Mayhew said. "You should get what you deserve, and I want justice for my friend, more importantly."
"Ronnie is a really kind person. He wants people to be happy, and wants everything to be OK," Hultman said.
Eyewitness News got a taste of his humor.
When asked what he would say to the person that hit him, Fay-Handebeaux said, "drive safer."
He lost his father this way and refuses to be bitter.
"Actually, my dad was hit and killed by a driver as well," Fay-Handebeaux said.
Fay-Handebeaux explained that he stays positive, and is focused on his family, his fiancé Tate and his sweet doggies.
The NYPD is still looking for the driver.
Fay-Handebeaux's friends put together a GoFundMe. It's going to be four to six weeks before he's able to walk.
Fay-Handebeaux is focusing on happier things, and his hair.
"Yeah, a little less business in the front part than in the back, but we'll get there," he said.
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