Kentucky woman says she was left ‘for dead’ after truck hit her on Preston Highway
By DeAndria Turner
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LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (WLKY) — A Louisville woman says she is recovering from serious injuries after she was hit by a truck while walking along Preston Highway and then left in the road as the driver pulled away.
Jadore Kelly said she was heading to a store Friday before the holiday weekend when she and her dog, Chloe, were standing in the median on Preston Highway. Kelly said her car had been flooded in recent storms, so she was walking instead.
“I’m screaming, ‘Please help me. Please help me,’ and I just couldn’t move my body,” Kelly said.
Kelly said she does not remember the moment of impact clearly.
“I can’t even explain to you exactly what happened. All I know is that my body flew,” she said.
She said a truck hit both her and her dog, leaving them badly hurt.
“Everything went white and I just tried to scream for help, and my audio kind of went out as well,” Kelly said. “I couldn’t really hear anything. And the next thing you know, I’m just screaming.”
At first, she said, she did not realize a truck had hit her.
“It felt like there was a knife or a saw or something that went through my chest,” Kelly said. “But at the time, I didn’t know that was three broken ribs.”
Kelly said she suffered broken ribs, a broken femur, internal bleeding, cuts, bruises and lacerations.
“We don’t deserve these broken ribs and lacerations and cuts and bruises and internal bleeding and broken femurs,” she said. “We didn’t deserve that. And I definitely didn’t deserve to be left for dead in the middle of the street in 100-degree weather on Friday, laying on my back screaming for help.”
Her family later obtained surveillance video from a nearby business. It shows the driver stopping, getting out of the truck, looking at Kelly, then getting back in.
“For me to understand that, he looked me in my face. He did nothing. It crushes my heart,” Kelly said.
She said the experience has left her hurt but not bitter.
“You literally saw what you did to me,” Kelly said. “He was OK doing that. This world is so messed up. But you know what it makes me want to do? It makes me want to give more. It doesn’t make me angry. It doesn’t make me have hatred in my heart. It makes me want to go harder for people.”
Kelly’s family said investigators have spoken with the suspect and turned paperwork over to the Commonwealth’s Attorney. No arrest had been made as of the latest update.
“Right now, it doesn’t seem like there’s any empathy for the people that are supposed to get justice for me,” Kelly said.
As she recovers, Kelly said she hopes safety improvements are made along the busy stretch of Preston Highway, where a TARC stop and nearby businesses bring regular foot traffic.
She said more protections are needed before someone else gets hurt.
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