Family Devastated by Hit & Run Death

HOUSTON—The mother of a man killed by a hit-and-run driver this week is vowing to keep her son’s memory alive, while hoping the person responsible turns himself in to authorities.

“I would like for him to come and say I’m sorry,” said Bella Curtis. “I want him make it right for my family and right for my son.”

Curtis Thorne was killed Tuesday evening in the 200 block of West Gulf Bank Road in northwest Houston. Thorne was attempting to cross the road when the driver of a tan pick-up truck ran over him, authorities said.

“I can’t imagine hitting someone and having no feel for their life, that they would just drive right on,” Curtis said.

Thorne stood a towering 6 feet 7 inches tall, and spent time almost every day at his mother’s store called “My Dee Dee’s Pie Shoppe.”

“He was a great pie maker and could roll hundreds of pie crusts in a matter of hours,” said Curtis.

According to police, as many as 30 people are killed by hit-and-run drivers in Harris County each year. Many of the cases are never solved because witnesses are hard to find.

Crime Stoppers of Houston is offering up to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest. In the meantime, Curtis, who calls her son a gentle giant, said she knows nothing can ever bring back her child.

“This has just left a huge hole that we can never fill,” she said.