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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — A Virginia Beach motorcyclist is looking for answers after he was severely injured in a hit-and-run crash earlier this month.
The driver who fled the scene still hasn’t been found.
It happened on May 3 in front of the Great Neck Village shopping center.
Three weeks later, the motorcyclist, Nicholas Wheeler, is still in the hospital.
“I really just was hoping I wasn’t going to die,” he said.
Wheeler, who is a service member with the U.S. Navy, was riding his motorcycle on North Great Neck Road. He said he checked his blind spot and began merging lanes, but as he was moving over, he was thrown to the ground.
“I got hit and then the next thing I know, I’m rolling on the street,” Wheeler said.
Wheeler said a speeding, silver vehicle struck him on his left side. The damage to the bike was minimal but the impact severely injured his leg.
”I noticed my leg was bent in ways it probably shouldn’t be bending,” he said. “Right now they’re trying to piece back my heel and my ankle.”
Wheeler’s fourth surgery is scheduled this week. Doctors told him it’s still possible he might lose his leg, putting his military career at stake.
”Talking with my surgeon, he said it’s about a 70-30 chance that I’ll have to be medically retired,” Wheeler said.
His wife, Ryann Wheeler, said the ordeal has been tough for their two young children.
“It’s crazy. It’s hard to even imagine that somebody could do that — just leave somebody in the road to die,” Ryann said.
The couple said police told them nearby surveillance cameras weren’t much help.
The family is begging for someone to come forward.
“If I was in that car, there’s no way that I would think that I didn’t hit somebody,” Wheeler said. “It just makes me uncomfortable that somebody that can do that is still driving around with no repercussions and possibly not even any remorse.”
Wheeler described the vehicle as a newer model, silver car with a missing passenger mirror. If you have any information, call Virginia Beach Police.
