Donations, Support Pour In For Cda Hit-And-Run Victim

He was run down by a truck, had his wheelchair crushed beyond repair and was left helpless and in pain in the middle of a dark street.

But 43-year-old Robert Quast has discovered just how nice people can be.

Since news of his hit-and-run accident was reported Thursday, Quast has been inundated with offers of money, new wheelchairs and support.

“I really appreciate what was done by everyone, Quast said from his Coeur d’Alene home where he is recuperating from a fractured ankle. “I thank them all.”

Said Quast’s mother, Gloria Jellesed: “It goes to show there’s good and bad in everything.”

Quast suffers from cerebral palsy and depends on an electric scootertype wheelchair to get around.

He was heading west on Sherman Avenue on Tuesday night when a red Blazer-type vehicle pulled out of a parking lot and smashed into him. He was thrown to the ground. The truck dragged his wheelchair for about 200 yards.

Radio disc jockeys Jeff Connor and Darren Johnson of KEZE in Spokane interviewed Quast on their Thursday morning show.

“I don’t know what it was, if it was the power of his voice. But it struck a real nerve,” Connor said.

The station’s telephones began ringing off the hook. By Friday the duo had collected more than $2,300 to pay for Quast’s chair and medical bills.

Russell Stippel of Spokane called The Spokesman-Review offering to give Quast an electric wheelchair he no longer uses.

Stippel, who has multiple sclerosis, knows how important it can be.

“As far as I’m concerned, for me it’s the difference between being able to get out and not being able to get out,” Stippel said. “I’ve been where he is.”

Anyone who might have seen the incident or have information about it should call Coeur d’Alene Police at (208) 769-2320.

Donations can be made to Robert Quast at KEZE 1601 E. 57th in Spokane.