SPEEDWAY, Ind. — A mother and her teenage daughter are recovering after getting struck by a car Wednesday night.
It happened in Speedway around 8:30 p.m. at the intersection of 25th Street and Lynhurst Drive.
Leslie Drake-Brown and her 14-year-old daughter were walking home from Speedway High School after a holiday concert when a car came zipping through Lynhurst Drive and then quickly turned onto 25th Street, striking both of them while walking in a crosswalk.
“I saw it out of the corner of my eye, but there was no time to react,” Drake-Brown said. “It happened in an instant. I saw my daughter go flying in front of me.”
It is still a bit of a blur, but Drake-Brown recalls tumbling to the ground after a driver carelessly hit her and her daughter, leaving them behind no more than a football field away from home.
“It was terrifying,” she said. “We weren’t expecting it. I mean I’m always a little scared crossing the street because people drive crazy, but I didn’t expect to be hit like three houses away from where I live.”
As the black SUV raced off, Drake-Brown’s teenage daughter immediately called 911. The whole thing is still a bit foggy for her as well.
“I think I was still in shock, so I don’t really know,” Julienne McKnight said. “Like, I don’t even know how to react to it.”
McKnight suffered a variety of cuts and bruises all over her body. She is sore, but her mom is now struggling to walk. Drake-Brown has multiple broken bones in her left leg and possible ligament damage.
As the two heal, they are not mad about getting hit, they are mad the person drove off.
“It’s unimaginable,” Drake-Brown said. “I cannot believe it. If I hit someone I would immediately stop. I just cannot believe people are so cruel and they just don’t care.”
Neighbors say the intersection is home to wrecks nearly every week. And Wednesday’s victims now worry about the safety of other children walking to and from school.
“Speedway doesn’t have buses, so none of the kids ride buses and a lot of kids walk,” Drake-Brown said. “I’m afraid one of these days someone could potentially be killed.”
Police are still looking for the driver who struck the mother and daughter duo on Wednesday night.
The City of Indianapolis manages the intersection of 25th Street and Lynhurst Drive. The family said they are going to reach out to the City-County Council to see if it can be made a safer location.
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