Hit-and-run victim's family speaks out against drunk driving

GARY, Ind. (WLS) -- A Lake County, Indiana sheriff's lieutenant accused of DUI is now suspended without pay.

He's accused of hitting a Will County man after the Gary Air Show nearly two weeks ago and driving off.

The victim's wife, who was in the car when the crash happened, spoke to ABC7.

Derrick Dircks leans on a walker, every movement, every step. It's painful and difficult.

His wife is by his side now and was only feet away when an on-duty lieutenant now accused of DUI struck him.

"I seen it was a police car, I felt a sense of security that it wouldn't hit the van and then it did, along with my husband, and then left while he lay on the ground," Maureen Dircks, Derrick's wife, said.

The driver, Lieutenant Guy Mikulich, had just wrapped up working the Gary Air Show. The Dircks family was leaving too, loading up their van, when the crash happened in front of their four children -- just 10 to three years old.

"It was breaking my heart, looking at their terrified faces, wishing I could take it all away from them," Dircks, said.

The children, and especially their injured father -- the sole breadwinner who works as a carpenter -- have an uncertain future right now.

"Regardless of who you are, drinking and driving is wrong and people need to consider the gravity of their actions and how it can impact the lives of others," Dircks said.

Relatives have set up a GoFundMe page for the family.

Maureen Dircks did not want her husband to speak during ABC7's interview because of the pain and medication.

He has several doctors appoints lined up for his brain, his eye, and for the rest of his body.