Lyft driver left with injuries, no car after hit-and-run in Scottsdale
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - A local flight attendant is recovering after a hit-and-run that happened in Old Town Scottsdale while he was driving for Lyft.
He says it cost him his car, his income, and his independence.
"They didn’t even stop to make sure I was OK," Michael Cooper said.
A hard year for Cooper just got harder.
The United Airlines flight attendant has been kept from the skies because of health issues, so he’s been driving for Lyft for income.
On Oct. 26, he was working an overnight shift when another vehicle hit him near Indian School Road and Drinkwater Boulevard.
"I’d seen the guy come out, and he’s looking at his van. So, assuming he’s staying there, and I’m staying a distance away and while I’m on the phone with the police," Cooper said.
Cooper gave his statement to police and tried to drive home, thinking the pain he was feeling would wear off.
Michael Cooper
He was later taken to the hospital and on to a trauma center in Scottsdale.
"I was admitted to the sixth floor trauma wing, and I was just kinda stuck there and the whole time in a cervical collar and in pain, so they were giving me pain meds every three hours, and it was just miserable and then finally they were able to put me on a ventilator," Cooper said.
Cooper spent a week in the hospital and now has a busy physical therapy schedule – one he’s trying to navigate without a vehicle and no source of income from driving Lyft.
"When you’re already going through other stuff that you’re trying to save up, just to be able to go back to work, to have that ripped out from under you … it wasn’t just like one thing when they left, they left me with like twenty problems," Cooper said.
Scottsdale Police say the reported vehicle was a dark blue van, but more evidence is needed to follow up on the case.
Cooper says he’s thankful his injuries weren’t more serious and that his passenger was safe, but he wants police to find who did this before they potentially cause another wreck.
"How do I know he didn’t drive off and just hit someone else? It was the Halloween weekend, so what’s to stop him from driving off and hitting a kid or someone else? Just because you didn’t want to stop and own up to your actions," Cooper said.
Anyone with information on this case can contact Scottsdale PD.
Click here to help by donating to Cooper's GoFundMe.