‘Are you alive?’

WAIMEA — Nearly a month after being run down on a Westside beach, a visitor is still trying to find the man who left him injured in the sand — and the good Samaritan who brought him to the hospital.

Tim Sender of Chicago tries to visit family on Kauai at least once a year for the past 45 years. His modest factory salary makes it difficult at times but his sister is aging and he enjoys fishing with his island buddies.

He was setting up his pole on a section of Waimea beach near the pier around 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 29.

As much as Sender can recollect, a small blue foreign model 4-wheel drive pickup came pretty fast across the sand and ran right over him. His legs were bruised and his feet were cut bad enough that he couldn’t stand. His prescription glasses and a fishing pole were broken.

Sender said the driver stopped momentarily.

“The driver said something to the effect, ‘Are you alive?’ and when I started to move he said (‘expletive’) and left,” Sender said. “The pain was so immediate that I couldn’t think to look at the license.”

There were witnesses but only one woman came to his aid, he said. She had a truck and somehow got the man inside and drove him to Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital.

“Fortunately, this lady came over and how she got me into her truck, I don’t know,” Sender said.

The good Samaritan dropped him off at the hospital and left. He never got a chance to thank her.

The hospital staff contacted the Kauai Police Department and officers interviewed the victim.

KPD confirms that a report was made and that officer information is consistent with Sender’s testimony. An investigation continues.

Some people have said the truck in question was parked frequently at the beach but has not been seen since the hit-and-run.

His concerns now are his rising medical costs since the accident. He hopes witnesses will come forward.

“It’s touchy and I don’t want to cause my family on island any trouble if this is an angry guy that would do something,” Sender said.