Rebecca Engle is a local nurse, wife and mother whose life changed in an instant and who is still waiting for answers nearly three months after a devastating crash caused by a drunk driver.
Rebecca Engle is now a quadriplegic. Managing Partner Gary Lesser and Firm Partner Ryan McCarthy have filed a lawsuit against the suspected drunk driver. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.
“It’s almost three months since the accident. Why hasn’t there been an arrest made? We’ve been told that an arrest warrant may be issued next week. But it’s time. It’s time for justice,” Gary Lesser said.
“I’m now having to be — 24 hours a day, seven days a week — cared for by my husband and my kids,” Engle said.
Rebecca is a 34-year veteran registered nurse who has spent her career caring for critically ill children in Pediatric ICUs across Broward, Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties. For the past four years, she has worked as an RN in the PICU at HCA Lawnwood Medical Center. She is the woman who stayed late, who lifted families up during their worst moments, who never stopped moving. Secretary of her HOA. Weightlifting team mom. Always in the garden pulling weeds. Always helping someone.
Rebecca has no feeling from the chest down. She can move her arms but has no feeling in her fingers. She cannot care for herself. The woman who never sat down now spends her days in a bed or a wheelchair.
Rebecca was on her way home from Target on Nov. 30 after picking up Christmas presents. She planned to help her daughter with a college application personal statement that night. When she was late, her daughter checked Life360 and saw her mother on the side of the road. When Rebecca did not answer her phone, her daughter called her brother and asked him to check because maybe Mom was helping someone.
Instead, her son arrived at the crash scene as his mother was being airlifted to the hospital.
Rebecca is now learning a new medical language as a patient. She has been classified as incomplete ASIA B. She understands what that means and she understands what she is fighting for. She is a woman of deep faith who believes she will regain movement in her fingers and walk again. She wants to walk her children down the aisle. She wants to hold her grandchildren.
She is attending physical therapy and paying out of pocket due to insurance complications. A GoFundMe has been established to help cover those and other medical costs.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-kevin-and-rebecca-through-this-difficult-time
Media Coverage:
Florida nurse left paralyzed by suspected drunk driver (WPBF News)
Nurse nearly killed in head-on crash demands justice (WPTV News)
Local pediatric ICU nurse paralyzed in wrong-way crash; family still waiting for answers (CBS 12)
