JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Tracy Norris suffered life-altering injuries when she was involved in a motorcycle crash that took the life of her boyfriend, Billy Kinser.
“I broke so much -- so many bones, but it doesn’t compare to the broken heart,” Norris said.
The Florida Highway Patrol said the motorcycle went over the side of the Acosta Expressway ramp in April.
Norris has spent the last 36 days in a hospital recovering from the crash. The worst part, she says, was not having the chance to say goodbye to her boyfriend.
“I will always cherish him and nobody will ever take his spot in my heart. Nobody,” she said. “They could never replace him.”
Norris says the crash that killed her generous and loving boyfriend is a blur.
“I have no memory of the accident, whatsoever. I don’t really have a memory of, really, prior to the accident,” she said.
Norris and Kinser were riding his blue Yamaha motorcycle on Interstate 95. Troopers said Kinser failed to make a curve, hitting a wall and causing the bike to fall over the side of the Acosta Expressway ramp.
“I was told we flipped over the bridge, 32-feet, onto the concrete,” Norris said.
Ten days after the crash, Kinser died from his injuries.
Troopers said neither Norris or Kinser were wearing helmets.
“I want people to wear your helmets,” Norris said. “Don’t be stupid like me and Billy were and not wear a helmet. That was so foolish of us.”
Norris has several broken bones, bleeding in her brain, is in a wheelchair and will live with chronic pain for the rest of her life.
She and Kinser moved to Jacksonville from Indiana in February, hoping to start a new life together.
“I want him to know that I’m sorry,” Norris said. “If I could change spots with him, I would in a heartbeat, and that I love him. And I’m sorry that I had to leave Florida without him.”
Norris said she is leaving the hospital Friday and will go back to Indiana with her family. She said Kinser leaves behind an 11-year-old daughter and a son in his 20s.