Blind man injured in hit-and-run in north Austin

AUSTIN, Texas - A blind man is warning others about a dangerous intersection where he was hit by a car. He said the driver didn’t stop to help him, and they need to take responsibility for what they did.

On Tuesday, March 5, Zachary Arambula was crossing the street by Criss Cole Rehabilitation Center for the Blind in Austin toward the Triangle at West 47th Street and North Lamar Boulevard.

"I start walking, I cross the first lane, get into the second lane," Arambula said.

He said a car then hit him.

"It was definitely going at some speed because the sound is pretty vivid in my brain," Arambula said.

He said he flew into the air, landed in the street, and then crawled to the median.

"The first thing in my head was ‘get out of the street,’ I didn’t want to get hit again," Arambula said.

Arambula said he laid there in pain.

"I was expecting my knee to just be, I was scared to touch it, and I didn’t want to see what it might be, but I touched it, it seemed like it wasn’t in the shape of an L or something, but I tried to move it and that’s when I felt even more pain, and it didn’t feel right," Arambula said.

A witness called 911 and an ambulance took Arambula to the hospital.

"Thank you for being there and stopping and calling. I don’t know what I would have done if they didn’t stop," Arambula said.

The person who did hit him didn’t stop or help.

"I feel like stopping would be a normal reaction, or not even normal, a natural reaction," Arambula said.

Arambula said he wants the person responsible for ramming into him to own up to it.

"I don’t think it was on purpose, but mistakes still have consequences," Arambula said.

Arambula said he will eventually have to have surgery on his knee when the swelling goes down. He’s also trying to heal his back and arms from road rash.

The Austin Police Department has not provided an update on this investigation.