ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Sabrina Brake said Monday night her fiance Josh Whitworth and his two co-workers were working at a construction site in north St. Louis County when in a flash the unimaginable happened.
"That was like the scariest call I've ever gotten," said Brake.
Witnesses told police Mario Eiland sped down New Halls Ferry Road in a Ford Focus, went through the closed construction zone near Interstate 270 and Pershall Road and hit the three Missouri Department of Transportation sub-contractors.
The 35-year-old Whitworth is a father of two and lives in Bourbon, Missouri.
He and Sabrina Brake have been together for 11 years.
"Josh loves being a construction contractor, He's been working for Pace Construction for about six months. It's just so scary to think that he could have been killed, but thank God he wasn't. It's a big miracle he's still with us," Brake said.
Paramedics took Whitworth to a hospital with multiple, severe injuries and road rash on his side and back.
"His pelvis is shattered completely. He's got a fracture in his right shoulder and his right wrist is broken. He's in a lot of pain," his fiancee said.
Witnesses told police after the crash Mario Eiland ran, but police caught him and took him back to the crash site, where witnesses identified him as the hit-and-run driver.
Prosecutors charged the Florissant man with two counts of leaving the scene of an accident.
"I mean he went through a road that was shut down. There was a cop on the scene to make sure traffic was going away. It's just sad," Brake said.
According to a 2022 nationwide study by Associated General Contractors of America, 64% of highway contractors reported work zone crashes over the last year.
Ninety-seven percent also reported that the risk of highway work zone crashes is as great or greater than a year ago.
Whitworth underwent two surgeries on Tuesday. His fiancee said the good news is he's now out of the intensive care unit.
Still, he has a long way to go.
"It's just crazy. Josh is the breadwinner of our family. We have two children. They're asking about their dad. He cannot move his arms, his legs and he cannot feed himself. I'm helping him. It's just crazy. It's just so hard and he's never gonna be the same. We need justice," Brake said.
Meantime, the suspect remains in jail on a $100,000 cash-only bond.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to assist Josh Whitworth's family.