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He just helped a driver change a tire, and then got hit
A Good Samaritan who was severely injured in an Austell hit-and-run earlier this month still has a long recovery ahead of him. He says he can’t really work and struggles to walk. How, he’s calling for safety improvements on the road where he and a 63-year-old woman were hit.
AUSTELL, Ga. - A good Samaritan, who was severely injured in an Austell hit-and-run earlier this month, still has a long recovery ahead of him.
Now, he’s calling for safety improvements on the road where he and a 63-year-old woman were hit.
Keith Paine says he was helping 63-year-old Deborah Wright change a popped tire on the side of Cardell Road on Sept. 13.
He was helping Wright back into her car when another driver slammed into her car, sending him flying.
"It picked me up and I headbutted the car. That car was like being pushed into me, and it split my head open, I had to get staples all down my head," Paine said.
After being thrown 20 feet into a ditch, and bleeding profusely from an artery in his head, Paine says the worst part was the ambulance ride to the hospital.
"Oh my God, every bump, I mean, because it's every bump hitting on my ribs. Oh, that was horrible," he said.
Paine says it wasn’t until he got to the hospital though that he learned the full extent of his injuries.
"My right lung had collapsed…it’s still hard to breathe. If I cough, I'll cry," he said.
Now, he has to go back to the doctor after his right leg has begun swelling up from the knee down, making it difficult to even walk.
Paine is self-employed and can’t work for at least the next 4-6 weeks.
"Working for yourself, you make money day to day. And when that stops, it stops, right? Then there is no paycheck coming," he said.
Keith Paine says he and 63-year-old Deborah Wright were struck by a car after he helped her change a tire along Cardell Road on Sept. 13, 2023. Since then, he has been unable to work.
The speed limit on Cardell Road is 35 mph, but he says he often sees people going much faster.
"They may start at 35 when they turn onto the street, but they’re doing 50 by the time they get to my house…my mailbox has been knocked down probably 100 times. And when I got out of the hospital to come home, guess what? My mailbox was down," Paine said.
He says the lack of street lighting doesn’t help and would like to see more here.
"Some nights are lit up by the moon. But when it's not, you can't see your hand in front of your face," Paine said.
FOX 5 reached out to Cobb County to ask about improvements for Cardell Road.
Communications Director Ross Cavitt says the County Department of Transportation says it hasn’t received any complaints about this road, but since FOX 5 brought it up, they "will initiate a traffic study for the corridor to determine any warranted safety and traffic-calming countermeasures."
"We are also conducting a countywide study of traffic-calming techniques and more efficient and data-driven methods to determine where they would most effectively be used," Cavitt wrote.
Paine has set up a GoFundMe to help pay for medical bills.
"I've got physical therapy for my knee, I go to an orthopedic surgeon, they've got me going to a cardiologist," he said.
He says he’d also really like to know how Wright is doing after she was also severely injured in the crash.
"I’m really worried about her," he said.
FOX 5 asked Cobb County Police for an update on her condition, but they said they didn’t have one to share.
The driver who hit them, Anthony Sarfo, is still in the Cobb County Jail.
Investigators charged him with two counts of felony hit-and-run, tampering with evidence and open container violation.
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