Family of hit-and-run victim hopes perp will be brought to justice
TRENTON >> John Turner never made it to Thanksgiving dinner at his sister’s house.
Turner was driving his brown 10-speed Schwinn bicycle in the area of Hamilton Avenue and Hudson Street, delivering holiday meals to needy capital city residents, when he was struck by a vehicle during a near-fatal hit-andrun, his family said.
Turner was gravely injured after being mowed down around 2:15 p.m. Thanksgiving as he pedaled his bike across Hamilton Avenue.
He was in a coma for some time, and doctors initially gave him days to live, but he has survived.
Now at a long-term rehab center, he faces a grueling recovery, his family said.
“I used to always tell him be careful on that bike,” Turner’s sister Brenda Camp said in an interview this week at his Trenton home, hoping to bring light to a case she fears could turn cold.
“That’s crazy, man, to leave somebody on the side of the road like that,” Turner’s brother-in-law Darryl Camp said. “I know that area. That area’s always crowded. Somebody had to see that.”
Police continue to search for the driver responsible for the tragedy, but Turner’s family doesn’t feel the police department has done enough to identify the perpetrator.
The family questioned why police never disseminated information to the media about the hitand-run before this week.
The Trentonian had contacted the department’s public information officer Thanksgiving night after receiving a breaking-news alert about the hit-and-run.
But a spokesman didn’t immediately respond to the request for information due to the holiday weekend. And Turner’s story was never told until this week, when the family contacted The Trentonian to inquire why information about the tragedy never appeared in the newspaper.
“I understand they have more cases besides John, and you can’t just drop your other cases to do his,” Darryl Camp said.
Brenda Camp, Turner’s sister, said a detective assigned the case showed the family a picture of a gray vehicle police believe was involved in the hit-and-run. It was obtained from the surveillance system at a barber shop on Hamilton Avenue, she said.
“I feel like the detective should have put that picture out or put up posters or have it put in the paper, ‘Has anybody seen this car?’” she said.
Turner’s family described the vehicle as a gray SUV, possibly a Nissan, with front-end damage to the right side.
The family said they were informed cops recovered a shearedoff mirror near the hit-and-run.
A Trenton Police spokesman wouldn’t confirm details about the suspected vehicle detectives may be attempting to locate saying he needed to confer with the assigned investigator, Vincent Mistretta, before releasing additional information.
Turner was supposed to go over to his sister’s house for Thanksgiving dinner and to celebrate his birthday, which was Nov. 14. It became somewhat of a family tradition to throw Turner a belated birthday bash the same day.
Turner called his brother-in-law around noon that day to tell him he was heading over soon.
“I said it was too early to come right now,” Darryl Camp said. “[Your sister] hasn’t finished cooking yet. I’ll call you about the time the game comes on.”
Brenda Camp was in the kitchen finishing up the meal when she got the call that her brother had been struck.
Turner spent weeks clinging to life in an intensive care unit at Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton and still faces a long road to recovery after being transferred to a rehabilitation center a couple weeks ago, his family said.
His sister fears he may never walk again.
“He was always doing something,” Brenda Camp said. “Now he’s not able to do anything.”
The 61-year-old remains paralyzed on his left side of his body, his family said. He suffered a broken right leg, his family said, and doctors removed part of his skull to Brenda Camp, Turner’s sister, believes Trenton Police should be doing more to find the driver who gravely injured her brother in a Thanksgiving Day hit-and-run. relieve pressure on his brain due to the impact of the collision.
He underwent a tracheotomy to help him breathe and has a feeding tube inserted because he is unable to eat on his own, his family said.
He still can’t talk and responds to relatives by squeezing their hands.
“I wouldn’t want nobody to be like that, not even my worst enemy,” Darryl Camp said, fearing he may have permanently lost his trusty workout buddy.
Before he was confined to a hospital bed, Turner was always on the move, his family said.
He was a handyman who could fix almost anything. He helped his brother-in-law and sister maintain the pool in their backyard and put together a swing set for their grand kids.
Turner and Darryl Camp could often be found in the backyard working up a sweat on the Bowflex machine.
“I ain’t been on it since,” Darryl Camp said.
“He was in real good shape,” Brenda Camp said. “You couldn’t tell he was 61.”
Darryl Camp and Turner became closer than brothers.
“We’d go at it, man,” Darryl Camp said. “He just liked to f—k with me. He knew how to piss me off. She used to tell me just to let it go. He’d call me, ‘what’s up. Come here, kiddo. He’d say he’s the boss of my house.”
Turner lived with his brother-inlaw and sister for a few years until he moved into his own apartment at the Trent Center on Greenwood Avenue.
People there grew to know and love him, his fiancée Maggie McNeal said.
He’d cut lawns in the summer and shovel snow-packed driveways for elderly folks in the winter.
He was always giving to others, she said, just like he was doing on the night he was struck.
“He’s a well-loved man,” his fiancée said. “He’ll do anything for you.”
And he was heavily involved at his church, his family said.
Turner’s brother-in-law hopes Turner’s pastor can take up a collection for him that could be put toward a reward for information leading to an arrest in the hit-andrun.
“Money talks bullsh-t walks,” Darryl Camp said. “Somebody hears about this money, maybe they’ll come forward.”
Brenda Camp said she was very close to her remaining living brother. Her other brother, Larry, was shot to death in Trenton more than three decades ago, she said.
That crime went unsolved. Asked whether she believes TPD will catch the driver who mowed down Turner, Brenda Camp said, “I surely hope so. Somebody should talk.”
Anyone with information about the hit-and-run is asked to contact Detective Vincent Mistretta at 609989-4167 or the Trenton tip line at 609-989-3663.