The family of 54-year-old William Shepard say it was their father who was killed in a hit-and-run accident in Pottawattamie County early Saturday morning.
"He was a dad, he was a brother, he was an uncle, he was a cousin. He was somebody. He wasn't just a nobody and that's why it hurts," Nicole Spracklin told 6 News. She is Shepard’s daughter. "I'm angry. I don't know any other word to say,” says Spracklin. “I'm just angry."
The Pottawattamie County Sheriff's Office said a bicyclist was struck by a vehicle near Old Lincoln Highway and Northline Dr. around 2:25 a.m. Saturday.
"He could've been laying there for a while,” Spracklin says. Deputies found the man in serious condition and he later died at the hospital.
"I couldn't breathe. It was hard," said Spracklin. The sheriff's office says a person later came forward and said they remember being in the area and hitting something.
The person's vehicle showed damage and was seized by authorities as evidence. The family of William Shepard says the driver will have to live with what happened, but they know they do too.
"I'm not ever going to get 'I love you calls,' or even hugs from him, or see him,” Spracklin says. "My kids aren't going to have him or ever get to see their grandpa again."
The sheriff told 6 News they expect to positively identify the victim on Monday. The person who came forward is yet to be charged in the hit-and-run death.