DENVER - A great-grandmother is in a coma and doctors don't know if she'll ever wake up. Denver Police say she and her husband were victims of a hit-and-run early Saturday morning.
Max and Carmen Gallegos were driving home from an evening of bingo when they were hit at 12:38 a.m. at the intersection of South Federal Boulevard and West Alameda Avenue.
Police say 22-year-old Jesus Obeth Armenta was speeding down Federal early Saturday when his 1997 Mercury Mountaineer rear-ended the Gallegos' Dodge Neon and pushed them into the path of an oncoming van.
Police say Armenta fled the scene after the crash
The Mountaineer he was driving was found at 2nd Avenue and Federal and police announced they arrested Armenta for the hit-and-run on Sunday.
"They're innocent victims of somebody who just hit them and ran," James Gallegos, their son, said.
Armenta was charged with felony hit-and-run and vehicular assault. He is being held on a $50,000 bond.
"I just wish that he'd be held accountable for what he's done," Juanita Gallegos, the couple's daughter, said.
Max Gallegos is 75 and Carmen Gallegos is 79.
According to their children, the couple will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in August.
Max Gallegos has a broken collarbone, but says he won't leave the hospital until his wife, known as "Carmelita," comes out of her coma.
"He's waiting for her to wake up," Juanita Gallegos said.
The hit-and-run left Carmen Gallegos with broken bones and massive internal injuries.
"Our mom is holding on for her life and we don't know her outcome," James Gallegos said.
All nine of their children, their grandchildren, and their great-grandchildren were gathered at Denver Health Medical Center on Monday night - a total of 44 people.
"I'm just trying to comfort my dad because right now he is in a lot of pain. He's trying to be strong for us," Juanita Gallegos said.
She says the strongest member of the family is Carmen Gallegos.
"My mom is a fighter. I tell her, 'Mom, don't give up, just keep fighting,'" Juanita Gallegos said.
The couple's oldest grandchild, Octavio Madrid, Jr., wants to thank everyone who worked to save his grandparents, especially the people in the van involved in the accident who called for help.
"We really appreciate everything they did for them. Because if they would have ran also, [Max and Carmen] wouldn't have been here," Madrid said,
Colorado House Bill 1084 is a proposal to make hit-and-runs a more serious crime.
An online summary says the bill "would increase the penalty for leaving the scene of a serious bodily injury crash from a class 5 felony to a class 4, making it equivalent to drunk driving."
The bill is sponsored by Rep. Kathleen Conti (R-Littleton), Rep. Rhonda Fields (D-Aurora), Sen. Steve King (R-Grand Junction), and Sen. Cheri Jahn (D-Wheat Ridge).
According to the online legislative summary, "current Colorado law gives drunk drivers, especially repeat offenders, an incentive to not stop at the scene of a crash and call for help of injured people. Instead, current law rewards drunk drivers with a lesser penalty for fleeing the scene and trying to hide out until they are sober. The consequence of this loophole may be life or death for someone needing immediate medical attention at the scene of a crash."
The bill must pass committee hearings in both the House and Senate and then pass a floor vote in both chambers of the Colorado legislature.
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