Husband of hit and run victim: 'I thought she was dead'

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- A Ponte Vedra man is asking the public for help in finding the driver he said injured his wife in a hit and run incident.

Sunday evening, Brian Anderson and his wife went out for a bike ride on Palm Valley Road, near Payasada Oaks Trail in Ponte Vedra Beach.

It is the same area where the Florida Highway Patrol's website said an incident happened around 7 p.m. that evening.

"We were just going to, you know, take sidewalks where there were sidewalks and walk our bike in the grass," Anderson said.

He said they crossed the street from a sidewalk to a grassy area.

"We had gotten over across to the grass and I hear this loud boom," he said.

According to the St. John's County Fire Rescue's Facebook page, a 49-year-old woman was knocked from her bicycle and hit with the side mirror of a passing vehicle. Anderson said that was his wife, Julie.

"I screamed out to God "no! No! No! No!" he said.

Authorities said the woman was airlifted to UF-Health Jacksonville.

This isn't the first St. Johns hit-and run incident. According to FCN records, there were four unsolved cases in St. Johns County as of late 2013.

A Department of Safety citation search showed 136 criminal violations of leaving an accident scene in 2012 in the county.

Anderson said his wife is improving, but has broken bones.

To the alleged driver, he would say:

"You've changed our lives drastically."

Anderson describes the vehicle as a dark blue van with its passenger mirror broken off. He is asking for the public's help in finding it.

"Somebody could see this and turn them in to the police," He said.

Anderson praised the work of police, people who stopped to help and medical staff. He said his wife is a mother and has a career.

He also said it could take his wife up to 7 months to fully recover.