ANCHORAGE - Every year, Anchorage police respond to more than 1,000 hit-and-run collisions on city streets. Behind those numbers are faces, families whose lives are irrevocably changed.
Last week, Tasha Odom-Cain and Reggie Cain become one such family.
Their morning commute last Thursday began like any other. But as the couple passed through the intersection of 9th and L Street—just half a block from Tasha’s workplace—the couple’s truck was struck by another driver.
“I didn't see it, [Reggie] screamed my name,” Tasha said, “but by the time he screamed my name, it was too late.”
The car t-boned their truck, striking the door right next to Reggie’s arm. Their truck flew over a lane of traffic, coming to rest in front of the sign for Delaney Park. Witnesses said the driver fled the scene on foot, while a dazed passenger eventually did the same.
“I think the first thing that hit my mind was, oh my god, what just happened?” Tasha recalled. “Did this just happen? Is everyone okay?” She said her head had snapped into Reggie’s shoulder during the crash. She doesn’t remember the first few minutes after the collision, but Reggie said as soon as the car landed, he undid his seatbelt, left the vehicle, and went over to his wife’s side of the car.
He said she was dazed, unsure of where she was, and as he “was leaning over her, she couldn't move,” Reggie said. “And I tried to move her but she said, ‘oh baby, it hurts too much,’ and she started crying.”
Tasha was rushed to Providence Hospital with injuries to her neck, back, and arm. The next day came the headaches.
“They've gotten worse, to the point if I sit up they're there, if I try to read they're there, or if I move around a lot,” she said.
“It's not like a migraine, it erupts around my whole head. They just keep getting more intense and more intense.”
Her doctors told her recovery will be a long process. “Whatever I hit, I hit it hard,” she sighed, “and so it’s going to take my muscles and body a long time to heal.”
But what worries her more is taking care of her family. They’re without a vehicle after the crash; Tasha said the insurance payout is thousands of dollars shy of the remaining payments. With Reggie a full-time student—and Tasha already maxing out her sick leave at her work—they’re also without an income.
“My job is what keeps the family going,” she said. “It's been stressful, it's a lot on my shoulders, and I'm not sure how we're going to do it.”
And, Tasha said, they have to stay strong for their five kids. “We're trying to work with them, so they understand, things are going to be okay,” she said. “[We have to] keep a brave face on for them and not let them know how I'm feeling inside.”
But not being able to hold her kids, Tasha said, makes the struggle with her injuries even harder.
“Little kids are little kids,” she said, “and they love mommy, especially our baby. My baby will want to jump up into our lap, and our baby will want me pick her up and hold her on my lap and want to hug me around my neck.” But that sends pain down her arm and numbness down her fingers, “and so I can't cuddle with my baby, I can't give them that one-on-one close parent time because of the pain.”
“When I go in my room and close my door, I'll cry because... this is a lot for me to deal with,” she said.
The family is getting help from the people in their church—rides for the kids and help with errands around town—as they struggle with their new reality.
Today, though, the Anchorage police may have brought Tasha and Reggie at least some sense of closure: Investigators issued a warrant for the driver who hit them.
Delmar Spencer (pictured below) now faces charges for leaving the scene of an accident, and driving without insurance. They say that Spencer already has two felony warrants, one for violating his parole, and another for drug charges. You can call police at 786-8900, or Crime Stoppers at 561-STOP, if you have any information related to Spencer’s whereabouts.
Delmar Spencer is being sought by police in connection with the hit-and-run that injured Tasha Odom-Cain.
