SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio police report that, in 2018, there were 307 incidents of failure to stop and render aid. That number is especially disturbing to U.S. Marine veteran Juan Cano, who was hit Saturday by a driver who left the scene without helping.
The incident happened in front of a business on Broadway, north of downtown, and that business' surveillance camera was able to capture part of the incident.
At the beginning of the video, a car can be seen quickly swerving off the road and into the camera's view.
"Then, just a few seconds later, the car pulls back out violently. You can see the tires smoking and then it takes off," Cano said, describing the video.
What isn't shown in the video is Cano being hit by that car head-on.
"I hit the hood and the windshield and was dragged with the car until it ran into a food truck, and I just narrowly missed being sandwiched between," he said. "From what the police officer tells me, it was — the car ran into me (while it was traveling at) about 20, 25 (mph)."
The surveillance video then showed people running to help Cano after he was hit. He still has a badly swollen knee and hairline fractures on his shin.
"Just a lot of bruising in my ribs, and my lower back is really in a lot of pain, as well," he said, propped up on his couch with a brace covering almost his entire right leg.
Cano has had computerized tomography, or CT, scans, but he has to wait for the swelling to go down in order to undergo a magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, scan.
His pain has been helped by the immense community support he's received.
"It was shared several hundred times on social (media) and discussed a ton, and so I think maybe that was part of the reason why the perpetrator finally turned themselves in," Cano said.
The preliminary police report said the 21-year-old suspect was afraid when he turned himself in. That happened after the passenger came forward, telling police he had been intoxicated that night and wasn't sure if his designated driver had hit a pedestrian or a pole.
The passenger told police the driver left the scene and said he was first going to drop the passenger off and then he would would "drive back and check out what he had hit."
The passenger said he later learned that, when the driver returned to the scene and saw lights and sirens, the driver didn't stay.
Police said an arrest has not yet been made, and the investigation is still open.
"I just want this to be some lesson learned so somebody else thinks twice," Cano said.
There is no proof or mention in the report that the driver was intoxicated. Failure to stop and render aid is a third-degree felony punishable by anywhere from two to 10 years in prison.