Omaha man wants answers after hit-and-run left him with injuries, expensive medical bills

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Sam Eblen has security camera footage that backs up his report to police claiming an unidentified female driver back into him as he stood in a bar parking lot then drove off.

Sam says he went to an urgent care and as the pain worsened the medical bills have grown to $18,000 for what the electrician says is a job-threatening injury.

“I can’t move my elbow past 30 degrees probably, and I can’t use my right hand at all, which means I can’t write, I can’t use a pair of wire strippers,” Sam said.

Sam reported the early-morning hit-and-run later in the day. It happened about three weeks ago, but he says he has yet to hear form Omaha Police on the status of the case and identity of the driver who hit him and sped off.

“I don’t care if they get charged or not, that’s not the point of this,” Sam said. “I’d like to know who this person is so I can get ahold of their insurance company so their insurance company is paying for her mistake instead of me.”

The Omaha Traffic Unit Commander says all cases are taken seriously but have to be prioritized.

“When anybody is waiting for that call from an investigator, I get it, it’s gotta be frustrating,” Lt. Danny Flynn said. “But they have to understand there’s a lot of cases. We’ve had over 3,400 hit-and-runs this year, so we don’t want to downplay the seriousness of it. We are just busy. We need the public to be patient because we just have a lot going on.”

Flynn says 45 fatalities and 130 life-threatening injury accidents this year often take the 12 traffic investigators away from their regular cases for a while. But cases like Eblen’s hit-and-run caught on camera won’t be forgotten.

“Depending on the driver’s statement and the victim’s statement, that’s something our investigator will go into,” Flynn said.

And Eblen says he can also provide names of a half-dozen witnesses along with a license plate number to help a busy investigator solve his hit-and-run case.

‘What more would I need to have them follow up on what is obviously a crime,” Eblen said.

Flynn told 6 News the report filed by Eblen has been assigned to an investigator. Though the hit-and-run occurred on private property that won’t affect the investigation.

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