In the same Long Beach hospital where she regularly volunteered with her rescued therapy dog, loved ones said hit-and-run victim Nikki Rash took her final breath with her Labrador Retriever, Gabby, right at her side.
Nikki, a 78-year-old Long Beach resident, died on Saturday, Jan. 4, from severe injuries that she sustained in a hit-and-run crash on Dec. 26 – and the suspect is still at large.
“The neck injury and brain injury she sustained, she was being kept alive on machines and so after 10 days we honored her health care directive,” said Nikki’s son, Chris Rash. “We let her go peacefully.”
Chris said his mother was only blocks away from her home in the Bixby Knolls neighborhood when she was T-boned by a driver who ran a red light.
According to the Long Beach Police Department’s report, officers responded around 4:45 p.m. to the intersection of California Avenue and San Antonio Drive on the day after Christmas.
Investigators found that after the crash, the male suspect briefly stepped out of his car, but quickly got back in and drove away.