SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) – A family is pleading for a hit-and-run driver to come forward after a woman was seriously injured in Ocean Beach.
Katie Conner has had multiple surgeries since she was hit at the intersection of Sunset Cliffs Boulevard and West Point Loma Boulevard while riding her bicycle last Sunday morning. Police say a driver in a white pickup with a camper shell didn't stop.
"It's a wrong. It's a wrong thing that occurred and it needs to be righted," father Michael Conner said.
Michael Conner is pleading for the suspect to come forward. He and Katie's mother flew from Baltimore, where they live and raised Katie and her brother. Katie recently graduated with a communications degree from Salisbury University and moved to Ocean Beach with college roommates in July.
"We are very lucky that Katie is alive," Michael said.
Katie's co-worker and friends at Pizza Port are also pleading with anyone who has information.
“I don't know how that person can sleep at night knowing that they put this young, beautiful, charismatic girl in the hospital,” said Rosie McGinley-Kace.
She may have been the last friend to see her before the crash. McGinley-Kace says as she closed the restaurant she saw Katie ride by on her bike, “I didn't even stop her to talk to her which drives you nuts because if I could hold her off for five minutes maybe that would change timing.”
Since Sunday, Katie's friends have set up the Facebook page Praying for You, Katie Leigh. She's had two surgeries, where doctors operated on her brain and put in a tracheotomy.
“The community has really come together for it and taking a stand against it,” said McGinley-Kace.
Health care costs are escalating, and more than $15,000 has been raised to help her family already on giveforward.com.
"She is fighting, she is a fighter," Michael said.
While he prays for the suspect to be held accountable, what he wants most is his daughter to safely recover.
"That's all I want right now, I just want her to say hi to us, and it hasn't happened yet," he said.
Katie recently joined a cycling group to ride for an AIDS awareness charity. She also worked at Pizza Port in Ocean Beach, and was the manager at South Coast Surf Shop in Ocean Beach.
A fundraiser is being planned for November 1 at Pizza Port. South Coast Surf Shop and other Ocean Beach businesses are teaming up to raffle off items and 20 percent of the Pizza Port's profits that day will be donated to help Katie's family.
San Diego police say the incident is still under investigation, but have not released any new information. If you know anything, you're asked to call police.