Motorcyclist speaks after losing leg in crash that threw him into Luckett Rd retention pond

A man who was thrown from his bike into a retention pond fought to pull himself to safety. Now, he is living without a leg.

We want to warn you that what you’re about to see and read may be difficult for some people.

Dashcam video of the crash shows the moment an SUV hit the motorcycle, flinging the man into the water on Luckett Road at I-75 in Lee County on December 14.

Miguel Hernandez, the man who was on the bike, spoke to WINK News about his experience, sharing every detail he remembers.

Hernandez’s injuries were so severe he had to get his leg amputated, his pelvis was shattered, and he had burns all over his body.

That crash happened three weeks ago, and although he’s trying to remain optimistic, he says what happened that day is burned into his memory.

“I see it every day. I dream about it every day. I feel it every day. I feel the bang. I can feel the impact,” said Hernandez.

On December 14, Hernandez was riding his motorcycle to work when his life changed forever.

“I couldn’t do nothing. All I know… I just embraced by my handlebars, bro, and boom. She bleeping smashed into me, bro… Right on the side of me, my leg and everything… And I flew into the lake,” Hernandez said.

The crash was captured by the camera on a car that was driving by.

Hernandez and his bike landed in the retention pond next to the I-75 ramp. His leg was mangled, his pelvis shattered, and he had other broken bones and burns.

“It was ‘boom,’ and it was over with. I was hit. I couldn’t hit no brakes,” said Hernandez.

Along with his helmet, Hernandez was wearing his backpack and steel-toed boots, so he started sinking immediately.

“Something tells me, which I believe it was God, he says, ‘Miguel, you got to get out of here, bro. You got to get out of here now.’ You know what I’m saying. ‘now or it’s over with.'”

Hernandez woke up in the hospital and says his first conversation was with his nurse.

“She says, ‘well buddy, do you want me to tell you straight up, or do you want me to sugar-coat it?’ I said, ‘I want you to tell me straight up.’ And she said, ‘well, you lost a big part of your leg.'”

Hernandez’s leg was amputated above his left knee. He also now wears this metal brace.

“I got these rods going inside me to the pelvis and on this side, too, to the right, and it feels like swords going in there and twisting the whole time. All night, all day,” said Hernandez.

Hernandez is doing his best to hold it together and be thankful he’s alive today. Especially for his family.

“They’ve never seen me like that before, and then the kids start crying when they see me in pain like that and everything. My mom starts crying.”

Hernandez is thankful for the doctors and nurses he says have been taking excellent care of him. He’s also thankful for the deputy who saved his life and later visited him in the hospital.

“He saved my life, man. If he didn’t put that tourniquet around my leg, I would have bled out,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez says he could be discharged as early as Friday. He says the hospital will send him home with a hospital bed so he can continue to recover at home.

In about three months, Hernandez will begin physical therapy to learn how to walk with a prosthetic leg.

As for the driver involved, she was given a traffic citation for failing to yield to oncoming traffic.