HOUSTON, Texas — Sisters Sara and Christina Flores consider their grandmother, Rosie Valentin, to be more like a mother.
"She raised me and she raised my siblings, and it’s really hard," Christina said.
“I’m in pain, you know, seeing her like that,” Sara said.
The vibrant 71-year-old is now bedridden in the ICU awaiting another surgery and coping with the effects of severe trauma all over her body.
"She has had five procedures done, but she has a lot more,” Christina said.
The Houston Police Department said Valentin was hit by a truck around 6:30 last Saturday night while searching for car keys outside a gas station on Jensen at Laura Koppe Road.
She was then dragged across five lanes of traffic. Surveillance video showed the truck in question moments before the incident. It’s believed to be an older model Chevrolet 1500 that was tan in color.
More video from across the street shows the actual impact. Although it's blurry, a dark figure in front of the truck is Valentin. The driver initially stopped after crossing Jensen, appeared to get out and look, then left the scene. The badly hurt grandmother was left on the ground.
"He got out of his vehicle and saw that he hit her," Sara said. "It was a body, you know, it wasn’t a dog. It was a body.”
"It made it worse kind of seeing that for myself,” Christina said.
The family has scoured the area looking for additional video of the truck and driver and filed a police report so officers will be on the lookout as well.
"He should turn himself in," Christina said. "And if anybody knows him or knows the car, please call."
The victim’s grandson feels especially bad. He threw her keys out of the car window during an argument. That’s why she was looking for her keys when she was struck.