LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Five months after a man was nearly killed in a hit-and-run crash, the victim is speaking about his road to recovery weeks after police said they made an arrest in the case.
“I didn’t know what happened,” Keith Acord said. “I just woke up.”
Acord told 8 News Now the last five months have been absolute hell, as he recovers from the worst experience of his life.
“I don’t remember getting hit,” he recalled. “I remember going to the 711.”
He was hit and run over by a car after leaving a friend’s house in the west valley back in September; the driver took off.
“I wake up with a tube down my throat,” Acord recalled. “In restraints, not knowing how much time, or not knowing anything.”
Keith said he was in a medically induced coma for nearly two months and had 56 surgeries, including multiple skin grafts and a partial reconstruction of his skull.
“All this is everywhere on my body,” Keith said, pointing to his scars. “All my legs are like this from the skin grafts.”
He told 8 News Now for months, he had no idea what happened, but in February, police arrested 37-year-old Justin Collins in connection with the crime.
Arrest reports stated an anonymous tip, surveillance footage and evidence on his car led them to Collins.
“It choked me up,” he recalled of learning about the arrest. “Because actually seeing his face on a picture.”
Keith said while this experience has been anything but easy, he’s grateful to finally have answers, and he knows ultimately, things could have been worse.
“I’m not the same person that I was,” he concluded. “I’m lucky, I’m blessed you know.”
Collins is now facing multiple charges, including reckless driving resulting in death or substantial bodily harm, failure to give information to parties at a vehicle accident, and failure to stop at the scene of an accident.
Keith Acord has a GoFundMe set up to help with medical bills, if you’d like to donate click HERE.
