‘I was devastated.’ Grandfather flown to hospital with extensive injuries after hit and run

MORELAND — A family is trying to recover from the aftermath of a horrific hit and run that sent a 62-year-old man to the hospital with extensive injuries.

“I was devastated. He is the core of our family. He holds us together a lot and he does a lot for us,” said Natalie Gonzalez.

Gonzalez told EastIdahoNews.com that on Feb. 11, her grandfather Barry Taylor was on his way to a gas station just 0.2 miles away from their home to meet with her sister.

Gonzalez received a call while she was at work and found out her grandfather had been hit by a vehicle while he was walking near Chad’s Place on Highway 39. According to the Bingham County Sheriff’s Office, it happened a little before 8 p.m.

“My aunt was the first person to see him. She saw somebody laying on the highway and when she ran up to him, she couldn’t really tell who it was but when she turned him over, it was my grandfather,” Gonzalez explained. “My sister was on her way over to the gas station and then she saw everyone huddling around him. He was then loaded into an emergency vehicle. But the guy that hit him never stopped to see if he was okay or wait for paramedics. He just hit him and left and kept going.”

She said Taylor was taken to two medical centers until he was eventually airlifted by a helicopter to Salt Lake City, Utah for emergency surgery. He has a broken hip, shattered leg, fractured pelvis, three broken and three fractured ribs, a fractured nose and cheekbone, a severe concussion, a skull fracture, brain trauma, multiple lacerations and other undetermined injuries. 

Taylor used to be an active 62-year-old who welded, rode horses and dirt bikes, and spent his free time on the river fishing. He is the main provider for his family. He has raised Gonzalez along with her brother and sister, with his wife.

“He was always up and going — waking up at 5 in the morning, starting his day early and then finishing his day off late. Like going to bed at 9 p.m. so he could wake up early the next morning,” Gonzalez said.

Now, Taylor remains in the hospital, trying to recover from what happened to him.

“It broke my heart because he doesn’t look the same, doesn’t sound the same, he can’t speak the same and I understand now that he will never be able to do the things he loved ever again,” she said. “He’ll never be able to ride his horses or ride his dirt bike as fast as possible because if he were to hurt himself again, that would just be outstanding amounts of pain. I just feel awful about what happened to him.”

Gonzalez said the Bingham County Sheriff’s Office was able to catch the person responsible for landing Taylor in the hospital.

The Bingham County Sheriff’s Office confirmed with EastIdahoNews.com deputies were able to find 44-year-old Miguel Angel Hernandez after the accident happened. He was booked into the Bingham County Jail for felony leaving the scene of an accident resulting in an injury or death along with a misdemeanor for failure to give immediate notice of an accident. Prosecutors are seeking a sentencing enhancement for inflicting great bodily injury.

Hernandez remains in the Bingham County Jail on $250,000 bond and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Thursday.

“If I could tell him something, I would just tell him that I hope he spends the rest of his life in prison for hurting my grandfather the way he did and he didn’t even stop. I can’t imagine ever doing that to someone or hurting someone’s family in that way and then just leaving,” said Gonzalez.

Gonzalez has set up a GoFundMe for her grandfather to help pay for his medical expenses. Click here to learn more.

In the meantime, she is hoping Taylor will be stable enough to be released from the hospital in Utah sometime this week so that he can be transported to Bingham Memorial Hospital to the rehabilitation center.

“We are just praying that he gets better and is able to recover from this,” she said. “It’s pretty awful but we are lucky to have him.”