SAN ANTONIO — The search is on for the suspect involved in a hit-and-run on San Antonio's south side.
It happened late Saturday on I-37 South near Fair Avenue.
Twenty-year-old Bryan Rosales, the man who was hit, remains at Brooke Army Medical Center as of Wednesday night. He says this is the second time this year he's been involved in a hit-and-run.
As KENS 5 learned, his truck, now totaled, held sentimental value.
Rosales, who is a mechanic, recently installed a new engine on his 2004 Toyota Tacoma.
"It was handed down by my dad. We had driven that truck throughout my childhood," Rosales said. "Every place that I'd been throughout Texas."
In a few years, Rosales had every intention of handing down the same truck to his child.
That plan was destroyed Saturday night.
"It happened so fast, I couldn't even react," he said.
Just after 11:30 p.m. in the exit lanes of I-37 south near Fair, San Antonio Police say a white 2014 F-150 hit Rosales from behind.
"I looked in my rearview mirror and I just see these headlights really close. A split second after that...I feel this huge impact and it just sent me," Rosales recalled. "From there I just lost control and went up an embankment, took a few bounces."
He says he swerved to miss a neighborhood and plowed straight into a telephone pole.
"The engine of my truck just went down into my dashboard," he said. "I unfortunately bit through my chin with the steering wheel."
Rosales broke both legs and remains in the hospital. He tells KENS 5 he's able to walk with the assistance of crutches and walkers.
Officers say they found the suspect's Ford F-150 abandoned just south of the scene.
"For the person that did it...just do the right thing. I got messed up pretty badly," said Rosales. "It's not cool to still be out there doing the things that you're doing."
His advice to other drivers: Be careful on the roads.
"Always pay attention, because things can change by a flip of a coin or the snap of a finger," he said. "I'm just counting my blessings."