In a split second Rodney Driggers’ life changed forever. While riding his motorcycle down State Road 39 in Plant City he was nearly killed by a hit and run driver.
With his left leg being held together by metal rods, plates, and pins, Driggers talked to ABC Action News from a spare bedroom in his grandmother’s house. A small dark room he will be calling home for the next three months.
“The only thing I do is I lay here all day,” Driggers said.
Driggers knows he is lucky to be alive. He was wearing a helmet during the crash that sent him flying hundreds of yards into a ditch.
“I ended up a good ways, when I did get up my knee had a 90 degree bend in it,” Driggers said.
It was just after 9 p.m. last Friday when Driggers was hit. He didn’t see any headlights or hear tires squealing. One second he was riding below the speed limit in the far left lane, the next second he was waking up in a ditch. His wife Danielle says the past seven days have been extremely difficult for the entire family.
“He has an extremely long road ahead of him, lots of physical therapy,” Danielle Driggers said. She can’t understand how someone could leave her husband on the side of the road for dead.
“It makes me so angry,” Danielle said. “His ankle was completely shattered, he required four plates and multiple screws and pins. His knee was completely destroyed pretty much all ligaments and tendons were either ripped or completely torn.”
The family hired a private investigator to help Florida Highway Patrol track down the driver that hit him. Driggers’ hopes someone will come forward who witnessed the crash. He said two drivers saw him get hit and there were two people that made sure he was OK but left the scene before police arrived.
“No where in my mind did I think, ‘hey the people left’ I thought the guy helping me was, maybe, the one that hit me,” Driggers said. “I had no idea they'd leave the scene of the crash.”
Driggers will have to undergo multiple surgeries before he can walk again. He will also need a total knee replacement. That won’t happen until the cartilage and tendons in his knee heal. The family has started a GoFundMe page to help with medical costs. Driggers is a truck driver and won’t be able to work for at least 6 months.
