Man left for dead after hit and run on East Carson Street speaks out

PITTSBURGH — A young man struck by a vehicle on Pittsburgh’s South Side and left for dead in the middle of the road is talking to Channel 11 from his hospital bed.

Jordan Dennis has broken bones from his face to his legs and bruises all over his body.

“My friends said that they thought I had passed,” Jordan Dennis tells Channel 11. “I had a tube down my throat, tubes hanging out of my legs, blood draining out of my legs for days.”

Around 2:30 a.m. Sunday, Dennis was crossing East Carson Street near South 13^th Street when he was struck by a vehicle. The driver stopped briefly before taking off, never to be seen again.

Despite being left in the middle of East Carson Street to die, he’s up and walking with a lot of help.

“Doctors told me I should be paralyzed from the waist down,” Dennis added.

In surveillance video from a nearby business, you can just make out the figure of Jordan Dennis crossing the road before he goes out of frame. Witnesses confirm that’s Dennis. About a minute later, you see traffic hit the brakes, and first responders rush to his aid after a witness called 911 to say a man was hit and was unresponsive in the road.

Leila Crawford lives nearby and heard the crash.

“He was just laying on the ground and he was not moving,” Crawford said. “I truly thought he was dead.”

Crawford said she was stunned by what the driver did next.

“He stopped for a second, he did get out, he said ‘please don’t move him’ ... Then he got back in his car and drove away.”

We asked Dennis how he feels about the driver leaving him for dead.

“My friends said that they thought I had passed,” Dennis said. “I guess maybe he just didn’t want to face the music.”

Still, Jordan Dennis says he has no hatred. He’s focused on recovering, finding out who hit him and moving forward.

“God was with me 100% of the way through,” Dennis said. “Being able to even take steps the day after I was hit like that. Even being able to get up and go to the bathroom on my own is a blessing.”

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