SAN ANTONIO – The parents of a hit-and-run victim are looking for help in finding the driver who ran over their son.
Walter Rogers, 22, was on his way back from the beach at Corpus Christi with some friends when their car broke down on Interstate 37 near Mathis. They pulled over, and Walter sat down off the side of the road to use his phone.
That's when it happened.
"A truck came, and it was passing an 18-wheeler and swung around and hit my son," said his father, Walter Rogers Sr. "They ran over both legs -- left and right -- the shins were completely destroyed."
His mother, Iris Rogers, got the call at work Saturday morning.
"It's my worst nightmare, ever," she said.
By the time both parents got to Corpus Christi, their son was in a medically induced coma. Doctors there were able to reconstruct his right leg with rods, plates and screw.
The family had him moved to the San Antonio Military Medical Center, where they removed his left leg below the knee.
"The hardest part is explaining to your child when they get out why he can't move his leg," Walter Sr. said.
Walter played basketball and wanted to join the Army. While his parents say he'll play again, the course of his life is forever altered.
"He's going to live a productive life," said his father. "He's just going to have to do it a different way."
The Department of Public Safety did not have any information on the crash, but the Rogers family says their son said it was a white truck. They hope by getting their son's story out, someone will come forward. Perhaps even the driver.
"You don't leave someone -- a human being on the side of the road, you know, not knowing their condition," said Walter Sr. "Just hit them and the keep driving? That's not right. That's not what we do as human beings."