A long road ahead: Man injured in Gilbert hit-and-run still hospitalized, weeks later

Name: Weeks later, man injured in Gilbert hit-and-run still hospitalized
Uploaded: 2021-06-02T21:24:11-07:00
Description: A man who was struck by a car while jogging in Gilbert is still fighting in the hospital nearly two weeks later - and the driver has not been found. FOX 10's Irene Snyder reports.

Weeks later, man injured in Gilbert hit-and-run still hospitalized

A man who was struck by a car while jogging in Gilbert is still fighting in the hospital nearly two weeks later - and the driver has not been found. FOX 10's Irene Snyder reports.

GILBERT, Ariz. - A man who was struck by a car while jogging in Gilbert is still fighting in the hospital nearly two weeks later.

The hit-and-run occurred on May 20, and the driver has not been found.

The victim's family has been through much these past few weeks, but the mother said she has never lost hope.

"At the same time I was running out of the house, I was still thinking this has got to be a joke," said mother Judy Needham. "That call can come at any time for any one of us, because it happens when you least expect it - and he never saw it coming."

Her son, 43-year-old Guy Boyd, was struck down by a vehicle near the crosswalk at Baseline Road and 39th Street. The driver took off, leaving Guy maimed on the side of the road.

"It's hard for the brain to process that," Needham said.

Guy was rushed to the hospital with massive head injuries, including multiple skull fractures and hemorrhaging in the brain in addition to a broken shoulder and an injured leg.

During that first week, Judy explains there were moments when she had to fight back the worry gnawing at her brain—her son might not survive this.

"Because it’s best to look forward, and there were a lot of prayers being lifted for him and his survival, so I focused one hundred percent on that," his mother said. "I know in those moments…that pulled him through and pulled him back to us instead of sending him on."

Judy says her son Guy, a single father of two, is a strong and faithful man - with a very long road ahead.

"It’s going to take quite a long time for him to recover and to work hard at it," she said. "He’s already hard at work, so I have no doubt he will get there."

After all, she knows they are not on this journey alone.

"I don’t think I would have made it through this week without the support of the community at large, and I want them to know their many, many, many prayers were with my son in his worst moments and with me too," Needham said. "It’s much appreciated."

The mother also added that she is not angry with the driver who hit her son. For her, anger is a useless emotion and that she feels compassion for whoever did it.

Police say there was no surveillance footage from the crash but that vehicle, described as a white pickup truck, may have front end damage.

GoFundMe for Guy Boyd: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-guy-t-boyd-man-hit-in-crosswalk

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