A tearful father is asking for the public's help to find the driver who hit his 23-year-old daughter and then kept going.
Katie Conner was struck by a hit-and-run driver around 1:20 a.m. on Oct. 12 in Ocean Beach. She was riding her red bicycle home from work on West Point Loma Boulevard going toward Sunset Cliffs Boulevard.
Katie suffered a serious traumatic brain injury and remains in the Intensive Care Unit at the UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest, her father Michael Conner told NBC 7. Part of her skull had to be removed because of brain swelling.
"We weren't really prepared for what we saw when we walked in there. I mean, I knew she was in an intensive care unit, and I knew she wasn't going to be sitting up in bed waiting for dad. But I wasn't prepared for what I saw when I walked in there. She looked horrific," he said.
Now, Michael Conner is on a mission to find the person who hit his daughter. He said it’s not about revenge.
"What happened was wrong,” Michael said. “It needs to be corrected, and I'm not the guy to do that.”
San Diego police are looking for a white pickup truck with a camper shell with yellow or brown on it. Michael is urging the public to come forward.
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“I can't say it enough. If you know something, call the police and tell them. Even if you don't think it's really that important. I don't know, the smallest little detail could help the police in this matter," he said.
Katie moved to San Diego from the East Coast in July. Her father said she had just purchased a new bike and was planning to ride in an AIDS fundraiser from San Francisco to Los Angeles in a few months.
"She was a very athletic girl. She was very excited to get into cycling,” he said.
Pizza Port, the restaurant where Katie works, is planning a fundraiser for her. It will take place from 11 a.m. to close on Saturday, Nov. 1. Twenty percent of sales will go to Katie. Pizza Port is asking other businesses to donate gift certificates or other items that could be auctioned.
