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Woman hit by car at Interstate 95 & Gateway Boulevard in Boynton Beach identified

Posted at 4:52 AM, Apr 18, 2018
and last updated 2018-04-19 05:59:00-04

A woman struck by a vehicle near Gateway Boulevard and Interstate 95 in Boynton Beach and sent to the hospital with serious injuries early Wednesday morning has been identified.

RELATED: Pair in I-95 incident have domestic battery past

The driver may have intentionally struck the woman, according to Florida Highway Patrol. Investigators are treating the case as aggravated battery with a motor vehicle.

FHP spokesman Lt. Alvaro A. Feola said Ericka Edwards, 29, was taken to Delray Medical Center with life-threatening injuries and is in critical but stable condition.

WPTV spoke with a woman who said her sister, Ericka Edwards, is the victim in the case. 

The victim's family said the violence was sparked from a domestic incident between Edwards and the driver.

A car connected to the case was found with blood on it at a Boynton Beach home near Seacrest Boulevard. At midday, a trooper was spotted guarding it until they received a search warrant.

Ericka’s sister, Dominique Edwards, said the victim was coming home from taping an episode of "The Jerry Springer Show.”

She said when her sister’s girlfriend picked her up at the airport, the two got into a fight.  Ericka got out of the car, and that’s when she was hit, said the victim's sister.

Ericka's cousin, Lynette Mack told WPTV she was with Ericka moments before the incident. She says she and her cousin both appeared on the Jerry Springer Show. Shortly after being picked up from the airport Mack says Ericka called her asking for help.

"Her last words was cousin please come get me," Mack recalled.

“She ended up getting in the car with her … She’s fighting for her life, head bleeding from the brain, shoulder is just straight bone, no flesh, both of her hips broken,” said Dominique Edwards.

She said Ericka is conscious but has a breathing tube, so she can’t communicate right now.

Edwards' girlfriend, LiShell Jacobs, told WPTV she was driving the car when Edwards jumped out. Jacobs denied hitting Edwards with the car.

“That's not true. How could I run her over when I’m in a moving vehicle and she jumps out?” said Jacobs.

Jacobs said she loves Edwards and is cooperating with investigators.

"I wish my baby would’ve never jumped out of my car while it was moving. I wish that her family stop with the lies," said Jacobs.

FHP investigators towed Jacobs car for evidence, Wednesday evening.