INDIANAPOLIS — Jeremy Trammell is smoking a cigarette on his front porch while his once-working wheelchair sits in the back of his house on the south side of Indianapolis.
"I can only get a new one every five years, so I guess I'm without it," said Trammell, who suffered a stroke nine years ago and is completely paralyzed on his left side. "Well, I just can't run around or nothing. I got to stay home. I can't be out, getting stuff done that I need to get done."
Trammell said he was in the crosswalk at East Raymond and Shelby streets on the morning of Friday, Feb. 23 when a car hit him.
"There were still 10 seconds left on the clock to cross the street, and my wheelchair spun around, and then of course, I had to turn back around, fight traffic with one bad leg to push myself back across the street," Trammell said.
According to Trammell, the driver kept on going.
"I just got that wheelchair in December, and it was a gift for my 41st birthday, and then, I'm crossing the street, and I get hit from some (expletive) that just doesn't give a (expletive) whether you're alive or dead or nothing? Good luck to you. It's really bull----," Trammell said.
Though the accident didn't cost him his life, he said it did cost him the way he's able to get around.
"It broke the controller off that you steer it with, and that controls the speed. It snapped it off. And it broke the tire completely off the right side of my wheelchair," Trammell said.
Trammell has been in contact with police.
IMPD told 13News in an email that a supervisor will be reaching out soon with more information.
"If somebody can cross the road in 45 seconds in a wheelchair, think how long it would take somebody walking to. There's other people on the roads, too, besides the cars," Trammell said.