Emotional decision for Fresno family after critical hit-and-run crash

Sunday, February 6, 2022
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- UPDATE: Donald Roberts passed away from his injuries on Saturday.

Original story follows.

---------------------

A Fresno family is reeling after a hit-and-run crash critically injured a father of two last week.

"This man destroyed our lives," said Shelly Roberts.
[Ads /]
Her husband, Donald Roberts, suffered a massive head injury and had a leg amputated after the crash.



Police caught a suspect, but Roberts isn't likely to ever see justice.

Donald Roberts worked hard for his family.

The 49-year-old had two jobs to make sure his kids, Conner and Courteney, could have things he never had as a kid.

He biked to his day job early every morning, then caught a bus to his night job.

"He was a really physical, active man," Shelly Roberts said. "Beautiful smile and I can never get it out of my mind."
[Ads /]
He had just gotten off work and got off the bus at Cedar and Bullard in northeast Fresno last Tuesday night.



As he walked across Bullard, just feet away from his apartment complex, a car slammed into him.

Fresno police say the driver who hit Roberts left the scene.

"Me and my children didn't know until Wednesday morning, the next day, January 26, at 7:30 in the morning what happened to my husband," Shelly Roberts said. "And that's when our lives changed."

Police later arrested Kevin Polidario and prosecutors charged him with hit and run causing injury.
[Ads /]
Shelly Roberts believes Polidario could've prevented some of the damage if he'd stopped and called for help.

Instead, she says Donald lost oxygen to his brain and by the time she found out, what she and her kids saw in the ICU was unimaginable.



Donald has been in the hospital ever since, but could come off life support as soon as Saturday.

"(We've) come to the reality that he's not going to be coming home to us," Shelly Roberts said.

The family has set up a gofundme account to help with expenses. It had raised $355 before our story aired.
Copyright © 2024 KFSN-TV. All Rights Reserved.