CLEVELAND — It's been five months since Tracy Frysinger was struck by a car while walking across E. 105th Street near Carnegie Avenue in Cleveland. Frysinger said she had just left work and was in the crosswalk with the walk signal illuminated.
"I see this kind of stuff happen a lot, so it worries me that these people are out here doing this, and then they don't even stop," Frysinger said.
The incident was captured on a business's surveillance camera. Frysinger's niece posted it to social media in hopes of getting tips. It shows a dark-colored vehicle hit Frysinger, briefly stop, and then continue going. The footage is not clear enough to make out the vehicle's license plate.
Frysinger said her right leg and knee took most of the impact in the hit-and-run. She said she suffered a tibial plateau fracture and displacement, torn meniscus, a broken thumb and compression fractures on her spine.
"It’s really been life-changing for me to go through the ordeal of being off of work for 12 weeks at home recovering," Frysinger said. "I’m still recovering, and we’re five months later. I’m still going through therapy. As you can see, I’m still using a cane."
She's undergone surgeries and said she doesn't know yet if she'll require more.
"I’m progressing along, but they (medical team) told me it could take up to a year for full recovery," Frysinger said. "I can't do a lot of things that I wanted to do. I just started driving. I had to have people come and help take care of me. So it’s a lot of burden on other people, not just to me, to help me."
Frysinger said she is growing concerned that police have not been able to get a positive identification on the vehicle and have made no arrests.
"I’d just like to have somebody find out what happened (and) what's going on so that they can catch the person," Frysinger said.
She said calls to Cleveland Police have left her frustrated.
"I've called several times. They’ve got, they tell me, thousands of cases and not enough people to help do it," Frysinger said. "I know they have other hit-and-runs, but I could have been dead laying in the road."
She said if it's an issue of not having enough workers to investigate such crashes, she'd like to see the police department hire more people or perhaps outsource the work.
Despite getting surveillance video from a nearby business, Frysinger said city cameras also likely captured the hit and run, but nothing's been turned over to her lawyer for further investigation.
"We need the city camera footage from this corner and other corners so that they can see if they can track the person down a route, find a good view of a license plate, and can find the person," Frysinger said. "It's very frustrating. My family’s upset. They’re all really upset about the whole thing."
News 5 reached contacted Cleveland Police to get an update on the investigation Wednesday. A spokesperson for the department responded the same day and said they were told the camera did not capture the crash and that investigators have spoken to the victim on several occasions
"As of today, we received one tip, but the plate given is a bad plate," the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the police department currently has two hit-skip detectives and two accident investigation unit officers.
News 5 asked followed-up questions as to whether the camera was operating normally the night of the crash and if there are more than one city camera in that area.
Frysinger said she hopes that by sharing her story, someone will notice something and call in a tip that can lead to an arrest.
While she continues to focus on her health, Frysinger is bummed about missing a family tradition this summer due to her injuries.
"Can’t go to Cedar Point this year," she said. "It's one of our favorite things to do for the summer. It’s taken a lot of pleasures out of my life—this situation."
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