HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) — When Vickye Parker of Hampton heard that Kayla Hiegl, 24, was struck and killed last week by a hit-and-run driver, she was outraged.

“I became so angry. Where was the responsibility to stop for this young lady? How do you just drive away, like they’re nothing?”

For Parker it’s more than sympathy for Hiegl’s family. It’s empathy. Parker was driving to work on Interstate 64 eastbound in Hampton in March just past the Mercury Boulevard interchange, when another car struck hers and kept going.

“You know what I think of a person like that, honestly, you’re a coward. You don’t have a heart.”

Parker had severe cuts and broken bones in her hand, face and around her eye. But at least she survived. She says she can’t imagine what pain Hiegl’s family is going through because of her hit-and-run driver.

“Something in your conscience should have said I gotta go back, I gotta make this right.”

And Parker knows something about the rules of the road. She’s a school bus driver for Newport News, and she’s a driving instructor for AAA.

She says drivers need to give pedestrians and vehicles enough room when they’re pulled over to the side.

“You’ve gotta get out of that lane and give that person the full space.”

If you have any information about who struck and injured Vickye Parker on March 1 around 5 a.m., or who struck and killed Kayla Hiegl in the early morning hours of October 10, call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.