Serious Hit-n-Run Crash in Utica: 'She Just Kept on Going!'

"For the life of me I can't understand why she didn't stop...She just kept on going like nothing happened!"

Those words from an eyewitness in a serious hit-and-run, T-bone style accident at Genesee Street and the Parkway in Utica that sent one man to the hospital on Thursday afternoon. In fact, Victoria Cooke's vehicle would also be struck before the driver was ultimately stopped when another motorist further South on Genesee Street approached the wrecked vehicle and removed the keys from the ignition before the operator could drive any further.

Witnesses described the driver to WIBX 950 as a young female.

"She just said: 'I wanna go home. I just need to get home."

An uninvolved motorist approached the vehicle when it came to a stop near Genesee and Avery Place, having followed the driver after hearing the crash and seeing a rambling vehicle 'blazing down Genny', Kevin Hodkinson told WIBX 950.

scene of accident at Genesee, the Parkway and Burrstone on Aug 25. 2022

Hodkinson said he was coming home from work when he heard the wreck then saw a vehicle, "with no front end, leaking every possible fluid, and its hood flapping the wind." He approached the vehicle when it stopped near Avery Place and asked the young female driver is she was ok.

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"She just said: 'I wanna go home. I just need to get home.' " Hodkinson said he then reached into the vehicle a pulled the keys from the ignition. By that point a police car had arrived and he handed the keys to the officer, he said.

Meanwhile, Cooke tells WIBX 950 the accident happened right in front of her, and as the young driver drove away from the scene, struck her car as well.

"She ran the light and hit the car right in front of me, and just kept right on going," Cooke said even thought the force of the crash sent both vehicles spinning in circles. "She hit his car, then kept driving and hit me." Cooke and her three children were not injured, she said. "For the life of me I can't understand why she didn't stop...She just kept on going like nothing happened," Cooke said a few hours after the crash.

Cooke said the driver hit the front of her vehicle as the operator continue driving and left the scene. Accident at the Genesee, Parkway, Burrstone in Utica on August 25, 2022 (photo submitted by Victoria Cooke)

Utica Police are still investigating and haven't yet released an accident report. Check back for updates.