LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Loved ones of the family hit by a car on a downtown Louisville sidewalk said a mother and daughter who've spent two weeks in the hospital are slowly recovering.

Hunter Jones, the 21-year-old oldest son in the family, said his little sister, Ava, was awake and headed to rehab for the first time Wednesday. She suffered head trauma and a back injury in the crash.

Hunter said she still can't quite talk yet but is slowly getting her voice back.

"I think it was a couple nights ago I went in there and I was messing with Ava and I could tell she was getting a little annoyed," Jones said. "I told her I loved her before I left and she said, 'Shut up.' And I'm like 'Ava, really, come on.' And she was like, 'I love you.' And I'm like, 'Aww thank you.' She can't say it, voice it really, but you can read her lips and she has a little whisper behind it."

Ava, 17, is a star basketball player at Nickerson High School in Kansas. After receiving 15 Division I offers, Jones committed earlier this month to play college basketball at the University of Iowa. An incoming senior at Nickerson, Jones averaged 20.8 points, 15.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.6 steals per game during her junior season.

The family was in town for the "Run 4 Roses" girl's basketball tournament at the Kentucky Exposition Center.

Amy, Ava, Creek and Trey Jones pictured before crash.

Amy, Ava, Creek and Trey Jones were hit by a car in downtown Louisville on July 5th, 2022.

Hunter's younger brother Creek, 10, was also hit but was released from the hospital the same day with only a "few bumps and scratches."

Hunter said his mother, Amy, is also awake and regaining her ability to talk after undergoing another surgery on Wednesday. The family is hopeful she will also be cleared to go to rehab soon.

"It's huge," Hunter said. "We'll have days where there is a setback, and, I mean, that day is kind of a bummer, because, really, how we're feeling is basically how they're doing. So if they're not doing that good, then our emotions are just kind of at a standstill and kind of stuck. But if they're getting better, then our emotions keep going up and keep turning more positive."

Amy and Trey Jones

Amy and late husband Trey smile for a picture.

Hunter said Ava still does not know her father, Trey, 42, passed away a few days after they were hit.

"We really wanted to tell mom first, too, just because I don't want to tell them both at the same time about everything that's happened," he said. 

Hunter said his father was always at his sporting events and encouraged him to follow in his footsteps to become a collegiate track athlete.

"He was a great man. He was a mentor for a lot of kids," Hunter said of his father. "Just seeing the people that he was there for, the people that he mentored, my goods friends that don't have father role models around, he was there for them. He was just a great, great person overall and he's loved by so many."

Family and friends have placed a memorial downtown in remembrance of the beloved dad and athlete.

TREY JONES MEMORIAL

A memorial for Trey Jones has been placed in downtown Louisville.

Police charged 33-year-old Michael Hurley of Lexington, Indiana, in the crash. Police said Hurley drove onto the sidewalk at 2nd and Market streets just after 8 p.m. and "struck a family of four standing on the sidewalk causing critical injuries to all four." Hurley told police responding to the scene that he had just taken Hydrocodone and was "so tired he could not make the turn."

Ellis said the Jefferson County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office added a murder charge against Hurley to go alongside his existing charges of assault and operating a motor vehicle under the influence. 

A GoFundMe page was set up to help the family. To donate, click here. As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, it had raised more than $127,000.

Related Stories:

Copyright 2022 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.