High school volleyball player, 16, left with traumatic brain injury after being run over while on crosswalk as cops hunt for driver who fled the scene

A high school volleyball player has been left with a traumatic brain injury after she was hit by a driver who sped away from the scene in Arizona. 

Jette Heldenbrand, 16, was in Tempe at around 10.30pm on Friday September 4 when she was struck by a dark gray Mazda while on a crosswalk. 

The incident left the high school junior fighting for her life in the ICU of Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa, according to a website set up to help find the driver and support the Heldenbrand family. 

Jette was left with ‘severe’ traumatic brain injury, a broken arm and a ‘multitude of scrapes and bruises,’ the site said.

‘Jette is such a kind, loving young lady who has touched the lives of so many, and right now she is fighting for her life in the ICU,’ Ali Marie Beatty, a family friend, wrote on Instagram. 

Beatty told AZ Family that the driver’s actions were devastating for the ‘truly loved’ high schooler and her family. 

‘She’s so sweet and bubbly and funny and kind,’ Beatty continued. ‘It’s devastating that someone could hit somebody and drive off and leave them.’

‘How do you live with yourself?’ she asked. 

Julisa Carrizosa was sitting in the front of a bus leaving a volleyball game when she saw Jette struck by the vehicle. 

‘In my eyes, I thought this person could very much be gone, the prayer focused on this person to live another day to still have breath in their body,’ Carrizosa told ABC 15. 

‘Nobody deserved that. Just sickening that even though that took place, that that person would make the decision to go. 

‘I don’t think that’s something that’s very humane.’ 

Police said that the driver is believed to have been driving a dark gray Mazda 3, four-door sedan.

‘This car is expected to have significant damage to the front driver’s side, including damage to the driver’s side headlamp assembly and front bumper area,’ the Tempe Police Department said. 

‘The car will likely be missing a substantial portion, if not all, of the front bumper cover.’ 

The Arizona Sky Volleyball Academy player was described as ‘the sweetest, silly young woman,’ according to a GoFundMe created by Beatty for Jette and her family. 

As of Monday evening, the fundraiser garnered over $43,400 in donations. 

Police are asking anyone with information to contact the Tempe Police Department at (480)-350-8311 or submit a tip online HERE.

The Daily Mail reached out to the Tempe Police Department for comment.