BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — Every Sunday, Ilsa Curtis would get a call from her uncle, Erwin, in Alabama.
He was helping her out putting together a family tree. He was even helping plan a family reunion to be held later this month in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. However, one Sunday in June, Ilsa got a different call about her uncle.
On June 16, Erwin Curtis was hit by a car while crossing the road in his wheelchair, not long after services at Church of the Highlands’ Woodlawn campus had ended for the day. Originally, he did not want to go to the hospital, but Ilsa talked him out of it after paramedics call her at her home in New Jersey to explain what had happened.
From the moment he arrived at UAB Hospital, things were not looking good for Curtis. Suffering from a brain bleed and numerous seizures, he was quickly put in a coma. Although doctors were able to get the brain bleed under control, his condition never improved much and on July 5, Curtis died. He was 84 years old.
"This is really hard on our family," Ilsa said, adding that Curtis was the patriarch of the family who spent years working for Coca-Cola.
Ilsa said the family is still planning on having the family reunion later this month, although it won't be the same without him there.
"He wouldn't want us to be sad," she said. "He would want us to get together and be a family."
A couple of years ago, the Curtis family suffered a similar tragedy after Tyrez Garner, Ilsa's 36-year-old cousin on her mother's side, died in a hit-and-run while crossing I-459 by the Lorna Road bridge in 2022.
"I held him as a baby," Ilsa said.
No arrests were ever made in Garner's case. As of Monday, none had been made in Erwin's, either.
Ilsa hopes that whoever hit her uncle will eventually come clean about what happened and take responsibility for their actions.
"With my faith, I know that whatever you do here, you have to answer to your maker," she said. "It would be a blessing if that person came out and said 'It was an accident.' Maybe they're scared, but you have to let us know what you did because you killed someone. Be honest and come forward. You have to take accountability for what you've done."
Anyone with information on Curtis' hit-and-run can call the Birmingham Police Department at 205-254-1764 or submit an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.