A mother of four is fighting for her life at Methodist Dallas Medical Center after a driver struck her in Oak Cliff and sped off without stopping, and her family says they didn't even know where she was for two weeks. Lisa Marie Martinez was hit just before 9 p.m. on Aug. 24 in the 1200 block of North Westmoreland Road, according to Dallas police, and she remains critically injured after undergoing multiple surgeries.
Martinez had no identification on her when she was rushed to the hospital, according to NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, which first reported the story for broadcast before converting it into a digital article. That meant her siblings and her four children had no way of knowing what happened to her, or where to find her, until two weeks after the crash. Her sister, Eve Martinez Zamago, said the family learned only then that Martinez was at Methodist Dallas.
Methodist Dallas Medical Center houses the Charles A. Sammons Trauma and Critical Care Tower and stands as the only Level I Trauma Center serving southern Dallas, a designation the hospital earned in 2015 after expanding its critical care facilities the year before, according to Methodist Health System. That status makes it the primary destination for the most severe crashes coming out of Oak Cliff, which sits south of Interstate 30 and southwest of the Trinity River.
A Family Left In the Dark
Zamago said Martinez remains on life support despite the multiple surgeries she has undergone, and the family still has few details about what actually happened that night. Zamago believes her sister was riding a bike when she was struck, though police have not confirmed that detail. She has publicly asked why the driver did not stop to render aid, and the family is now appealing to anyone who was traveling along the busy Oak Cliff thoroughfare that night in hopes someone saw the driver responsible.
The family held a vigil for 24 hours at Methodist Dallas as they waited for news, according to the same broadcast report. Zamago said she wants justice for her sister, and the family is now asking the public for help identifying the driver who fled the scene.
A Corridor With a Troubled History
North Westmoreland Road is a major multi-lane arterial that connects Oak Cliff's residential neighborhoods to Interstate 30, running past commercial districts and city facilities including Dallas Animal Services, according to city planning records cited by Freese & Goss. The corridor carries heavy commuter traffic through multiple signalized intersections, the kind of high-speed, multi-lane environment that safety researchers say turns routine crashes into life-threatening ones. Data compiled for Vision Zero Dallas shows a pedestrian struck by a vehicle traveling 40 mph faces an 85% fatality rate, a risk that drops sharply at 25 mph, according to Southern Injury Law.
It is not the first time this stretch of Oak Cliff has made headlines for a deadly roadway encounter. In March, a fatal hit-and-run in East Oak Cliff left a pedestrian dead in the 900 block of East Illinois Avenue after a driver similarly fled the scene, per Hoodline. Just weeks later, a fatal multi-car pileup struck the South Westmoreland corridor near Camp Wisdom, and in July another fatal pedestrian collision occurred near Westmoreland Road and I-30.
Pedestrians Bear an Outsized Risk
Citywide, pedestrians account for roughly 30% of all traffic fatalities in Dallas despite making up only about 2% of daily commuters, according to City of Dallas Vision Zero data cited by Freese & Goss. Dallas adopted its Vision Zero initiative in 2019 with a goal of eliminating traffic deaths and cutting severe injuries in half by 2030. The city did see progress last year: Dallas police investigated 44 fewer traffic fatalities and more than 1,800 fewer total crashes in 2025 compared with 2024, following targeted enforcement along high-crash corridors, according to the Dallas Police Department.
Even so, hit-and-run crashes remain a stubborn problem nationally. The Governors Highway Safety Association found that hit-and-runs account for roughly 25% of all pedestrian traffic fatalities nationwide, with fleeing vehicles involved in 94% of fatal hit-and-run cases. In Texas specifically, 768 pedestrians were killed and 1,454 seriously injured on state roads in 2024, with urban areas accounting for 84% of those fatalities, according to figures compiled by the Texas Department of Transportation and cited by the Loewy Law Firm.
What the Driver Could Face
Under Texas Transportation Code § 550.021, leaving the scene of a crash that results in serious bodily injury without stopping to render aid is a third-degree felony, punishable by two to ten years in state prison and a fine of up to $10,000, according to FindLaw. Texas law requires any driver involved in an injury crash to stop immediately and remain at the scene until medical help arrives, a duty this driver allegedly ignored. It remains unclear whether investigators have recovered vehicle debris or surveillance footage along North Westmoreland Road that could help identify the person behind the wheel.
For now, Martinez's family is left waiting at her bedside, hoping someone who was on that stretch of road on Aug. 24 comes forward. Zamago has said she wants justice for her sister, and the family continues to seek any tip that could lead police to the driver who left Martinez behind.
