Conway hit-and-run survivor finds strength to ride again

CONWAY, Ark. — On Dec. 23, 2023, James Conway was heading home from a family birthday party for his grandchildren and nieces.

“We had a good time. I enjoyed it. And then my best friend said, ‘Be careful going home.’ I said, ‘I will,'” Conway said.

He never got the chance to fulfill his best friend’s wish.

“I stopped at the light in the bicycle lane, in my lane. This one guy, he came up, he stopped. He seen me. He continues to go head on in the guy that was behind him, the one that hit me, he comes up. He swung around, it was too late, because he had hit me,” Conway said.

His main source of transportation was damaged.

With his phone nowhere in sight, Conway said the person who hit him acted as if he was going to help. 

“He seen the ambulance and just stood there. He didn’t try to help or nothing. He just left me there,” Conway said.

With no one to call, Conway told THV11 that he was alone until officials showed up.

Following the crash, multiple surgeries on his leg left him bedridden.

“Everybody out there having fun… A lot of days I was sitting there suffering. I even cried,” Conway said.

Now, Conway walks with a cane and still lives with injuries from his accident.

“I still got a wheelchair, and I still got a boot that I wear sometimes. I got a plate in my leg and back and on a cold day, or something like that, it really bothers me.”

Throughout his recovery, he dreamed of getting back on his bike, but then he received an unexpected surprise from his sister.

“She just rolled me around town. So we stopped me at the house. Everybody got to push me back to the back, and when they pushed me back to the back of the patio, I see her,” Conway said.

His blue beauty was all fixed up. Then, the moment he waited two-and-a-half years for came. He was able to ride again.

He’s now back to riding through the streets of Conway with his bike in tact and his cane by his side.

To tell his story is to help someone else along the way.

“Believe in God, be careful and hopefully, watch out for those and let those watch out for you as well,” Conway said.

Police still have no information on who might have hit Conway.