NAPLES, Fla. — Leigh Mountcastle said it sounded like a bomb went off and everything went into slow motion as a car smashed into St. Matthew’s house thrift store.
“(I remember) landing on the floor, sliding and hitting my ribs on metal chairs and then landing on the ground with the glass going into my skin,” the 66-year-old Mountcastle said. “I could feel it all. And trying to breathe was extremely difficult, because every time you took a breath in or out, the glass would go in further.”
After being released from the hospital, a St. Matthew’s crash victim tells Fox 4 community corespondent Stephen Pimpo she faces a long road to recovery and still remembers the chilling words the driver of that car said to her:
Mountcastle, who was at the store dropping off items and doing some shopping, was one of six people sent to the hospital after the Collier County Sheriff’s Office said 42-year-old Donald Payton-Lee Russell jr. of Naples drove his 2024 black Honda Sedan through the plate glass store front of St. Matthews's flagship store on 2601 Airport Road Thursday.
Mountcastle was one of the three people with traumatic injuries and spent five days in the hospital. Her injuries include a likely broken foot, bulging disc, herniated lower back and cuts all over her body.
“Walking is difficult, (the crash) took out my my left knee as well,” she said. “I'm still dealing with glass shards coming out of my side from when I flew and hit the floor.”
As she lay on the ground in pain, Mountcastle said she remembers Russell speaking to her.
“He looked down and he looked at me, and he said, ‘You're supposed to be dead. I'm looking for my wife,’” she said. “And he pushed some glass towards me and kept on walking.”
With one of the victims still on life support, Mountcastle said she is one of the lucky ones but says she will likely need a GoFundMe to pay for her medical bills.
Especially since she just finished going through cancer treatment.
“I'm on the good side of things at this point, but then this happening not even two weeks later, it's just devastating,” Mountcastle said. “It's too much. It's just too much.”
MORE REPORTING ON THE CRASH:
