KILLEEN, Texas — A Killeen motorcyclist was on his way to the barbershop where he works back on July 13 to get money from one of his aprons to be able to take his family out to eat when he was struck by a car, seriously injured before the driver fled the scene getting picked up in a separate vehicle.
Darrin Simmons, 37, said he was on the corner of Stagecoach Road and Featherline Road in Killeen near the police department as he approached a red light.
"As I got close to the light that is now turning green I could tell (the driver) was trying to beat the light and as I'm sitting there he's doing his normal speed of about 35 MPH and at the last minute he hit his breaks but it was too late I had no choice but to run into him," Simmons said.
Simmons said the driver shot out in front of his bike going through the red light, struck him and said the driver flipped his own car on impact.
"Both of my legs are broke, one ankle is shattered, I had three surgeries on that and on my right leg where it's shattered more in the shine area--my tibia," Simmons said.
Simmons said as the car approached him he felt he was preparing to "accept everything that was going to happen."
When he hit the ground Simmons said he tried to drag himself to his motorcycle to call his wife, knowing instantly that his legs were broken.
"Somebody that was by standing said 'stop dragging I'll get it for you, your legs look horrible,'" Simmons said.
Simmons said he had to have the bones of his right legs put back together with rods and plates, a similar surgery to his left leg although Simmons said the swelling in his left leg was so bad doctors had to wait a few days for swelling to go down to operate.
"They had to put bone cement in there because when I hit the ground a lot of that bone turned into dust, so I'll have to get a bone graft done in a couple weeks," Simmons said.
To this point, Simmons said he and his family have called law enforcement, leaving messages and voicemails but he hasn't gotten a response back regarding his case.
However, Simmons said he caught a break that he hopes will help law enforcement track down the person responsible.
"During the incident there was someone who followed the car, got the license plate and they left that with dispatch because the person that hit me jumped out of their car and got into another car and they were driven off," Simmons said.
Simmons said he wants to press charges against the driver responsible because he feels he "was left for dead."
"It hurts, I have a family, I have people that care about me, people that I have to take care of," Simmons said. "I have kids, my youngest is two-years-old."
Simmons said they continue to gather what information they can from his hospital bed and if anyone has any information on he incident or the driver responsible Simmons is asking them to reach out to the Killeen Police Department.
6News reached out to the Killeen Police Department for comment on this story.