Police seek Honda that hit Porter County jogger, fled
By Erin Guerra Post-Tribune correspondent June 12, 2012 11:48AM
Updated: July 14, 2012 6:27AM
Police are looking for the driver of a 1992-1995 Honda Civic that hit a runner Monday night and left her unconscious and with serious injuries, including two broken vertebrae in her neck.
Gabrielle Bigman, 21, woke up in the ditch in pain and started screaming. A Porter couple heard her, turned their vehicle around and found the injured woman at about 9:25 p.m. in a the ditch on the east side of the 1000 block of North County Road 200W, in Liberty Township, police said. Bigman said the last thing she remembered was running south toward her home on County Road 200.
Fire department personnel and bystanders picked up an assortment of vehicle parts near where Bigman was found, including an entire passenger side mirror, parts of a turn signal and headlight, and possibly the bottom of a bumper. Police were able to identify the vehicle type from the parts but did not find evidence of its color.
Auto body shops and others who do repairs are asked to be on the lookout for a Civic, probably a four-door model, with front- and passenger-side damage, including a missing mirror and missing molding on the passenger door pillar, said Sgt. Larry LaFlower, public information officer for the Porter County Sheriff’s Department.
Despite her injuries, Bigman is conscious and able to move. She is in the intensive care unit at Porter hospital’s Valparaiso campus. Her other injuries include a dislocated shoulder and a shattered ankle, which will require reconstructive surgery, LaFlower said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Cmdr. Jeff Biggs, of the Porter County Sheriff’s Department, at 477-3141.
