‘Ride for life’ held for 19-year-old girl learning to walk again after Jacksonville hit-and run

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It’s now been more than a month since 19-year-old Brookelyn Rose was hit by a semi-truck in Jacksonville’s westside while riding her motorcycle, left with a fractured neck and spine, a broken femur, and severe brain damage. The driver of that semi-truck never even stopped, fleeing the scene.

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“You don’t just hit somebody, run them over, and take off and leave her the way she was,” said Rose’s mom, Lucretia Diaz on Saturday. “I’m thankful for the two witnesses that stood up and said, ‘Hey, this is what we seen,’ but he needs to be held accountable for what he did, too.”

On Saturday, a “ride for life” was held in support of Brookelyn, with dozens of bikers riding in from Georgia, Lake City, Jacksonville, and elsewhere to show their support for a girl that’s been through so much pain over the past month, not even able to remember what happened due to the extent of her brain injuries.

“It’s been hard going through therapy and stuff and waking up and not knowing what happened and why I was in the hospital, that was pretty hard,” Brookelyn said at Saturday’s event.

Now with all those bikers showing up to support Brookelyn Saturday, with a grueling recovery ahead, she’ll go into it knowing she won’t be alone.

“It feels really great, and it kind of empowers me through the recovery,” said Brookelyn with a smile. “My goals are to be able to walk and talk and I recover and I come out better than before.”

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