92-year-old Arizona woman blames hit-and-run accident on a case of the runs

ORO VALLEY, Ariz., Feb. 5 (UPI) -- A 92-year-old woman involved in a hit-and-run accident in Oro Valley, Ariz., blamed it on a case of the runs.

Persis Draper was charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk, failure to control speed, leaving the scene of accident with injury, and failure to render aid after allegedly striking a pedestrian with her car at about 45 miles-per-hour.

Draper, who had already experienced a previous bout of diarrhea, left the scene to go to a grocery store to use the bathroom. “The diarrhea started up again after the accident happened. I was going to stop, but then the diarrhea came and I didn’t stop,” Draper told the Arizona Daily Star.

She drove back to the corner where the incident occurred about 45 minutes later but didn’t find anyone there.

“I didn’t leave a scene of an accident because I was running away. I’m not the type of individual who would do something like that. I left because I had diarrhea,” she said. “I went back to check and there wasn’t anybody there.”

While she was at the store, Draper purchased dinner rolls which she eventually dropped off at her church for the potluck. “I was upset and I wasn’t feeling good because of the diarrhea,” Draper said. “When I got home I took a pill and went to sleep.”

After a witness gave the authorities the elderly woman’s license plate number, a deputy went to Draper’s home and cited her.

“It is unfortunate, it’s upsetting and I’m distraught. I can’t do anything about going back and it was not a hit and run. I just had no choice because I’d had diarrhea,” Draper said. “I don’t know what else I could have done. I empathize with her (the jogger). I’m saying my prayers and hoping everything turns out all right. I feel bad she got hurt.”

The pedestrian is recovering at home after a trip to the hospital.

[Arizona Daily Star] [News 4 Tucson]