ONLY ON 3: Hit-and-run victim, families react to incident

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — One of the four people hit by an SUV last weekend, along with the wives of the three men also hit, is speaking out about the incident.

Jeffrey West, Keith Hatcher and Frank and Maureen Meehan were hit by a dark-colored SUV last Saturday on Marsh Oaks Drive. Maureen Meehan said when she blacked out and only remembers the ambulance and waking up in the hospital.

“I don’t remember seeing or hearing the car,” Meehan said. “I can’t believe that they hit pedestrians and left the scene.”

She said the incident has been tough on not only her and her husband but also her kids.

“It really makes me emotional to think about hearing that both your parents have been hit by a car.”

West, Hatcher and Maureen’s husband remain at the hospital. Laine West said her husband is in a medically-induced coma, and hearing he was alive meant everything.

“That’s all I needed to hear,” West said. “I mean when you get news like that and you’re in a crisis situation like that. All I wanted to know was, is he alive?”

Now all three families have a long road of recovery ahead.

“You know the physical injuries were a lot,” Heather Hatcher said. “But him not having a memory of stuff was difficult. I mean he attended the Hanover JV football game at 4 p.m. on Friday, and right after the accident he had no recollection of going to that game.”

The women also have a message for the driver of the SUV.

“For their own good I think they need to just turn themselves in,”Maureen Meehan said.

“These are real people with real families and lives,” Laine West said. “For all of us involved I mean this is going to be a huge impact for our families.”

“You know what you did,” Heather Hatcher said. “There are families that are involved here. We have children. Do the right thing.”

A reward is now being offered for information leading to an arrest.