Brooklyn architect completely disabled by hit-and-run driver: ‘She’s been robbed of her life’

For the sister of a Brooklyn architect who was completely disabled in a Brooklyn hit-and-run, life has develop into a “nightmare that received’t finish” as she fights insurance coverage firms and healthcare suppliers prepared to surrender on the lady.

Mimi Silver Liebenberg, 37, suffered extreme mind harm within the Aug. 14 crash as she crossed Pacific St. and Buffalo Ave. in Crown Heights.

Police sources stated the driving force, Clossie Spencer, was searching for a parking spot when he backed into Liebenberg, who was within the crosswalk.

Surveillance footage recovered from the close by Kingsborough Homes present Spencer getting out of the automobile, trying on the critically injured girl and getting again in earlier than he callously drove off.

“I simply don’t perceive that,” Liebenberg’s sister, Creecy Richardson-Creef, informed the Each day Information.

Liebenberg was taken to Kings County Hospital instantly after the crash, however was finally transferred to an Atlanta-based rehabilitation facility that focuses on mind accidents.

It was the second of 4 healthcare amenities Liebenberg’s household would work to get her into.

“Our mom, who’s 63 years previous, has been with my sister for the final 5 and a half months in all these hospitals and traumatic mind harm amenities,” stated Richardson-Creef, 35. “It’s taken a toll on my mother and her well being, as effectively.”

Liebenberg can not converse, talk or stroll unassisted, and her short-term reminiscence is sort of gone, stated her involved sis.

The sufferer is at the moment at a facility in Richmond, Va., however since medical doctors decided she is not going to get better previous this level, getting insurance coverage to cowl the in-patient therapy has develop into a full-time job for Liebenberg’s household.

“They don’t suppose it’s medically essential, that’s their excuse,” Richardson-Creef stated of the insurance coverage firms. “She’s handled as lower than human.”

Liebenberg was in a coma for seven weeks after the crash. When she got here out of a “vegetative state” on the finish of September, she grew exasperated by the gradual progress of her remedy, her sister stated.

“She couldn’t management her legs and arms and needed to be restrained so she wouldn’t harm herself,” Richardson-Creef stated. “In her thoughts, she thinks she’s talking clearly, however what we hear is nonsense. She will get very pissed off.”

Liebenberg usually forgets current occasions and the place she is.

“We’ve to inform her, time and again, she was run over by a automobile,” stated Richardson-Creef. “Each time, she’s shocked and horrified yet again.”

After going by a divorce, Liebenberg had been dwelling with a roommate earlier than the crash. She was out searching for an condo the day Spencer, 29, struck her.

She was working her “dream job” as an architect earlier than she was injured.

“She went again to high school and graduated,” stated Richardson-Creef. “She cherished her job and he or she was so good at it. She had lastly gotten there and now she is simply going to be someone who must be on Medicaid and get authorities advantages and be disabled.”

Liebenberg grew up in a small city in North Carolina.

“She cherished being in New York, stated Richardson-Creef. “She cherished the artwork and music and the vitality. She was someone who cared about folks and defended individuals who have been underrepresented and misunderstood … now she will’t stroll and she will’t brush her tooth by herself.”

Liebenberg is predicted to reside out the remainder of her life in her present situation.

“It’s like she’s there, however she’s not,” her sister stated. “She misplaced her dignity and independence and there’s nothing we will do to assist her. She’s been robbed of her life.”

A 911 caller offered detectives with an image of Spencer’s automobile, but it surely took months to trace him down. He was arrested Wednesday and charged with assault, reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident involving an harm.

“I’m joyful they’ve arrested him and I hope the DA will prosecute him to the fullest extent allowed by legislation as a result of this has been the worst factor that’s ever occurred to my household.”

Following an arraignment in Brooklyn Legal Court docket, he was held on a $20,000 bond or $10,000 money bail.

“She didn’t do something improper, she was simply crossing the road,” Richardson-Creef stated of her sister. “I need her life to matter as a result of it issues to me and to my children and to my poor mother.”