'I'm lucky to be alive': Man in wheelchair run over by truck in North Austin speaks out
AUSTIN, Texas - The man in a wheelchair who was run over by a truck in a North Austin parking lot is speaking out saying he is lucky to be alive.
Rogelio De Luna says he cannot remember a single thing from that day he was hit.
"I don’t remember anything," De Luna said, translated from Spanish.
He says he knows he is blessed by God to still be here, but he is still hurting tremendously.
De Luna sustained a list of injuries including lacerations to his head and face, a cracked skull, a brain bleed, and a fractured pelvis.
He says he moves through that parking lot off North Lamar Blvd. every morning to get to work. The day of the crash, he was doing just that. What happened next, he does not remember, but it was caught on a nearby security camera.
On Sept. 3 around 10 a.m., De Luna can be seen on security footage moving through the parking lot until he gets to an area of the lot where cars are not designated to move through. He begins to make hand gestures to something off camera to slow down when a truck appears on screen and hits him.
"I woke up in the hospital and they were going to sew my head," said De Luna, translated from Spanish.
He says he knows he is lucky to be alive and knows God has a bigger plan for him.
RELATED: Disability rights organization responds to video of hit-and-run injuring man in wheelchair
Austin police have arrested 17-year-old Pablo Antonio Avila-Banagas saying he was the one who hit De Luna and fled.
De Luna says he knows people think the teen might have done it on purpose, and he has no idea if he did, but he wishes no ill will on the suspect. He just hopes the suspect will learn from this lesson.
As for De Luna, he will continue to live his life with no fear even after what he experienced.