ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A terrifying crash left a Tampa Bay-area couple seriously injured and out of work for months.
The crash was caught on video, but the people inside the car that hit them just walked away.
"I remember having my eyes closed, and I was just trying to breathe," Lyric Bushnell said.
The 26-year-old was celebrating her birthday with her boyfriend on Saturday, July 9. The Uber they were in to go home was hit by another driver who ran a red light at 3rd Street North and 4th Avenue North early Sunday morning.
"I just grabbed onto the seat, just tried to hold on as tight as I could," said Marco Torres, her boyfriend.
It was the moment that would change their lives forever. They felt what it was like when they were hit, but they had to see it to believe it.
"It was like two seconds, three seconds, but it felt like it was a good 10 to 20 seconds of us spinning around and flipping," Torres said.
Video of the crash captured two men getting out of the car that hit the Uber. They ran without checking to see if anyone was OK.
"Everybody makes decisions and that's what they decide to do that day," Torres said. "Maybe they were running from something and they didn't want to wait around to find out what was gonna happen."
The impact sent both of them to the hospital. Torres had fractures in his vertebrae and shoulder. Bushnell's injuries kept her in the hospital for 15 days.
"I had a broken clavicle," Bushnell explained. "I had four breaks in my pelvis, three breaks in my shoulder, a broken rib, broken sternum, perforated long."
The crash left them both out of work for over a month. Without being able to work they lost their apartment and are just getting back on their feet, but they're still asking the community to help with donations.
"I am blessed to be alive. I think about that a lot," Bushnell said. "If I didn't put my seatbelt on, I wouldn't be here."
10 Tampa Bay reached out to the St. Petersburg Police Department to see where the investigation stands. Detectives say they're still working to identify the two men who ran after the accident. If you know anything that could help piece this together, call 727-893-7780 or text SPPD plus your tip to TIP411.