Critically injured mom of 7 mouths ‘White Jeep’ after hit and run

DANVILLE, Pa. — Loved ones surrounded the hospital bed of a critically injured mother of seven on Sunday night, two days after she was struck by a hit-and-run driver in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, and asked her what happened.

“White Jeep,” Katherine Blann, 53, mouthed. Following the accident, Blann was taken to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pennsylvania, a week ago with major blood loss, a crushed pelvis and broken femur. Since then, Blann has been on a ventilator since the accident and remains in critical condition.

Police were able to identify a white Jeep as the suspected vehicle from surveillance video taken at about the time of the accident June 12.

A vehicle matching the description was located and searched Wednesday by crime scene technicians along with state troopers who removed “items of evidentiary value” for testing before returning the Jeep to its owner, borough police said.

No other details were provided.

Blann’s son, Jules St. Clair, said police are keeping the family informed about the investigation, though he’s still in disbelief.

“They seem like they are doing everything they possibly can,” he said. “My mother weighs 100 pounds and is 5-foot, 3-inches tall. How could someone drive over her and leave her lying in the street in the pouring rain?”

St. Clair and three siblings traveled from Washington state to be at their mother’s side. Blann’s boyfriend came from Tennessee to be with her.

“I believe she is going to pull through,” St. Clair said, describing his mother as responsive at times.

St. Clair struggles with anger toward the unidentified motorist who sped through downtown Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, and drove away after striking his diminutive mother as she walked to her car following dinner at a downtown restaurant.

“If he would have stopped, I would be able to forgive. Now I want justice,” St. Clair said.

On Sunday night when family and loved ones arrived at the hospital, Blann’s boyfriend asked the group whether she knew what had happened to her.

“She mouthed ‘White Jeep.’ I was right there,” St. Clair responded, by then knowing that was the same type of vehicle police were searching for.

He described his mother, a parent to four biological, one adopted and two stepchildren, as a loving, generous educator.

Employed by Language Consultants Inc., a Colorado-based firm that partners with Susquehanna University to provide English-learning programs for international students, Blann moved to the Isle of Que area of the state three months ago.

“She loves the area and would always brag to me that she lives on an island,” said St. Clair, who as a child lived with his family in Puerto Rico and Guam. “Mom loves living on an island again.”

The family has started a GoFundMe account to raise money to pay the rent on Blann’s home during what St. Clair said will be a lengthy recovery of eight to 12 weeks.

In six days since the account’s launch, 67 people have donated more than $5,000 to the family’s cause.

The Sunbury (Pennsylvania) Daily Item contributed details to this story.