Family of hit & run victim wants answers

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Family members say they can't get closure in the death of Otis Nash, 62, until the driver that crashed into him and drove away comes forward.

Nash was riding in a car with his sister around 9:30 p.m. Friday when someone ran a red light at 35th St. and Cleaver Boulevard, according to his nephew. Nash's sister had just started turning onto Cleaver when the other driver slammed into the passenger side of the car where Nash was sitting.

His nephew, Chris Jones, said Nash was rushed to a local hospital and released. He died the next day.

"They didn't check him out thoroughly," Jones said.

Nash was walking and talking until Saturday afternoon.

"We found out he had a collapsed lung," said Jones. "He fell asleep and we couldn't get him to respond, but he was vomiting in his sleep."

An ambulance rushed Nash to another hospital where he was pronounced dead. Jones and other family members even say doctors at the second hospital were surprised Nash had been released at all.

Nash was a beloved father, grandfather and a veteran of the Vietnam War. He had become the neighborhood handyman that couldn't say no.

"He would help everybody he could. He would fall asleep helping people," he laughed.

Now Jones' most precious memories are Nash's voice.

"Most I'm gonna miss about him is his singing," he said. "His singing and his favorite words, 'Don't get it twisted!'" 

When asked how Nash would use that phrase, Jones threw his head back laughing, "Anything he was right about and you was wrong!"