SUNSET BEACH, CA On the night of Friday, June 7, 2013 Kathy Gallagher was involved in a hit and run while walking through Sunset Beach. She was hit by a large pickup truck. Luckily the truck was not going that fast, but it still hit her hard, knocked her over and ran over her leg. This resulted in a compound fracture to her ankle, a blown out knee, and a fractured vertebrae in her lower back. She has had surgery on her ankle, her knee will definitely be needing surgery, and her back has yet to be properly examined.

Since the truck sped away instead of stopping to see if she was alright, Kathy is now stuck with all the medical costs. She does not have health insurance and she will not be able to work while she is healing.

She is in very good spirits, and still happy and giggly as we all know her to be, but she could definitely use help right now. Please send any donation you can to help Kathy get through the tough times ahead.

If a donation is not possible, I'm sure a phone call or email to her would be appreciated as well.

Anything you can do would be very much appreciated. Please feel free to share this page and spread the word.
Thank you. Jonah Atkins on June 14, 2013
:) See: gofundme.com/helpkathy

If you've managed to luckily avoid being hit by a car, truck or SUV while legally crossing the street at a stoplight, you know the feeling that just inches or seconds away your life would have drastically changed if you hadn't jumped out of the way. The signs are everywhere around us that others weren't so lucky. On Pacific Coast Highway in Southern California flowers and crosses are placed along the side of the road, maintained by survivors of those killed on a busy stretch where bicyclists share it with cars and trucks moving 60 miles per hour.

On that same road at the Sunset Beach Post Office is a hand-written letter (shown in photo) asking for help in finding the person who knocked down local resident Kathy Gallagher.

According to Los Angeles Police Department approx. 20,000 hit-and-run crashes ranging from fender benders to fatalities are recorded each year.

4,000 hit & runs in Los Angeles each year end in injury, and approx. 100 people are killed.

In L.A. an incredible 50% of crashes are hit-and-runs (11% of vehicle collisions are hit-and-runs nationally.)

A report examining the underlying psychology behind hit-and-runs found several factors come into play:

1. A slightly antisocial personality or disposition is greatly amplified by the presence of alcohol

2. After split-second cost-benefit analyses, most hit & run drivers decide that the benefits of fleeing the scene outweigh those of sticking around.

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