DENVER — A mother is desperately searching for answers as her 31-year-old son, Kyle Harper, sits in a hospital bed awaiting multiple surgeries. Police said someone hit him with a car in LoDo early Saturday morning and never stopped.
"I know someone saw something," said Kathy Vitarelli, Harper's mom. "This area is crowded with people at 2 a.m. leaving bars. You cannot miss someone being hit by a car."
Vitarelli and other family members came back to the corner of 20th and Larimer streets on Sunday to find any security cameras that could help police find the driver. On Monday, Denver Police said they were looking for a white Honda Civic with front-end damage.
"You have to do the right thing," she said. "Turn them in. We need this. He needs this."
Vitarelli said after a night out, Harper was walking back to the car with his cousin Bakari Harper.
"I believe a red light happened and somebody had tried to run the red light, tried to get by it before it turned red, and ended up hitting my cousin on the middle of 20th here," Bakari Harper said.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) issued a Medina Alert after the hit-and-run, but it turned out to be for the wrong vehicle. Saturday afternoon, Denver police announced the Medina Alert had been deactivated because the vehicle had been located, but said it was not actually involved in the crash.
Finding the driver won't make this family hurt any less, but there's hope it could provide closure and healing.
"Until, hope to God, someone is caught, that will at least ease that part of it, but he’s got a long road to recovery ahead of him," Vitarelli said.
This is the second hit-and-run in Denver this week. The first hit-and-run happened on Monday at the intersection of North Broadway and East 3rd Avenue. DPD said a man in a wheelchair was crossing the intersection when he was hit by a white 2013 to 2015 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck.
Police said the victim, 48-year-old Christopher Kelly, died of his injuries.
DPD is looking for the white pickup truck in Monday's crash. They believe the driver's side headlight is missing and it should have damage to the driver's side bumper.
Anyone with information on that case is also asked to call DPD.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Latest from 9NEWS