Friends are determined to find a hit-and-run driver after a Villager was severely injured when her golf cart was struck during a trip to the postal station.
Nancy Lou Hooper, 80, was in her brown 2017 Yamaha golf cart at about 4:30 p.m. Dec. 29 when she was leaving the Chatham Postal Station. She was traveling on SE 172nd Legacy Lane when she was hit by a car that left the scene.
The Michigan native was taken to Ocala Regional Medical Center where she spent several days in the intensive care unit. Hooper, a full-time resident of The Villages since 2007, is still at the hospital and is recovering from broken legs, broken ribs and blood clots. Her daughter flew in from Italy to help manage her mother’s care.
Friends and family are frustrated that there seem to be few leads in the case.
Members of the Aqua Rhythms Synchronized Swim Team, of which Hooper is a member, recently went to the Chatham Postal Station and passed out fliers in hopes of jarring someone’s memory or coming up with clues to turn over to law enforcement.
Hooper’s friends say the driver was a woman with gray hair who ran a stop sign. She was at the wheel of grayish-green sedan which might have front/side damage. If you think you have information which could be helpful, you are encouraged to call Stacie at (505) 506-2211 or Ellen at (616) 490-9262.
In December, 91-year-old Marilyn Hamilton of The Villages was sentenced to five years in prison after hitting husband-and-wife bicyclists in 2020 with her Mercedes. She fled the scene, but was tracked down after she had her Mercedes towed to a dealership in Gainesville. Thanks to a description of the car provided by a witness, law enforcement was on the lookout for the white luxury sedan.