Mesquite Iraq Veteran Left for Dead In Hit and Run

Family asks for answers in hit and run incident

A North Texas family is asking for help finding the hit and run driver who left an Iraq war veteran for dead. Eric Schultz is recovering at home after he was critically injured in the incident.

Schultz fought for this country in Iraq and South Korea for two years. Now, the veteran and his family are fighting for answers, after a hit and run driver left him for dead in a ditch.

"I thought I was pretty much dead, it's scary," said Schultz. "I just want to know why they didn't help? Why didn't you stay? Why didn't you at least call the cops? Why couldn't you have done something besides get scared and leave?"

Over Veterans Day weekend, Schultz was walking along Interstate 635 near Bruton and New Market Roads when a car hit him and the driver took off.

A passerby found the veteran in a ditch next to the road and called for help.

"It's very unsettling, I still don't sleep well, he doesn't sleep well," said his mom Shay Pitts. "I woke up to my son crying because he was in pain and he was scared."

Schultz's family didn't know what had happened to him for nearly two days. After filing a missing person's report, they finally discovered he was hospitalized in intensive care.

"When your child is missing, it's the worst feeling in the world that a mother could ever have," said Pitts.

The 28-year-old suffered a head injury and several broken bones.

"It makes me sad, even if i hit an animal i would stop to give them aid, nobody stopped to help him, they took off," said his sister Heather Scherzer-Penkauskas.

The family is thankful it wasn't worse, but they hope someone comes forward.

Schultz was wearing a black t-shirt and camouflage pants at the time of the accident, if you know anything about who hit him you are asked to call Mesquite police.

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