15-year-old recovering after Westford hit-and-run

WESTFORD, Mass. — Police are asking the public for help identifying a hit-and-run driver who left a 15-year-old injured.

Carrie Turcott, 15, was walking single-file with a group of teens on the side of Dunstable Rd., in Westford, around 10 p.m., Tuesday night. The group was heading from one friend's house to another, when the teens say a white or light-colored pick-up truck swerved and hit Carrie, then slowed down and finally sped away toward Groton Rd.

On Friday, police said the truck is potentially similar in style to a white Ford F-250 made between the years 2008-2010.

Carrie's face was struck by the passenger-side mirror, police say, leaving her with a gash above her bruised and swollen eye, as well as scratches on her face, arms and legs.

“I just fell to the ground. I started bleeding, and that’s when I started to panic and cry,” Carrie told Boston 25 News Wednesday. “All my friends around me were like, ‘You got hit by a truck! You got hit by a truck!’ And I had no idea that it had happened.”

Carrie's friend called 911, and she was taken to Lowell General Hospital, where she spent the night. Her parents rushed to the hospital ahead of her arrival.

"She's my ray of sunshine," Anne Turcott said of her daughter. "Just so glad that the powers that be are looking down on us."

Carrie, too, is grateful her injuries were not worse.

“I could’ve gotten a concussion. I have no broken bones or fractures,” Carrie said. “So I am just really lucky about that.”

Police say a surveillance image matches the description the teens provided of a white or light-colored Ford F-250 or F-350 Super Duty with orange running or oscillating lights on top. The truck would have damage to the passenger-side mirror, and it may have a loud exhaust and a body lift kit.

Westford Police Lt. James Peloquin said it is very unlikely the driver did not realize what had happened.

“We recovered parts of the passenger-side mirror. So it was obviously an impact. There was a group of youths on the roadway,” Peloquin said. “The fact that there was that sort of contact and pieces of the mirror, we thought the operator knew that they had struck the juvenile.”

Carrie and her mother hope the driver comes forward.

"For that person, that really sucked," Carrie said. "Stop if you hit someone."

Meanwhile, she is recovering with a little bit of humor.

“You know when people say, they wake up, and they’re like, ‘Oh, I feel like I got hit by a truck today,’?” Carrie said. “I know what that feels like!”

Police say a second female came forward on Wednesday reporting she, too, had been struck by the truck.

She suffered minor injures.

Police urge anyone with information to call Westford Police at 978-692-2161 or via the Tip Line at 978-399-2072.

Cox Media Group