EAST PALATKA, Fla. — Authorities from the Florida Highway Patrol are seeking assistance from the public to track down the driver involved in a hit-and-run incident that left 28-year-old Eric Orengo with severe, life-changing injuries.

The incident took place on January 15, shortly before 10 p.m., on State Road 207 near Rector Road in the East Palatka area, close to Hastings within Putnam County.

Orengo recounts that while riding his moped home from work along the bike lane, a truck veered into his path, hitting him from behind at high speed. This collision hurled him off his moped, partially running him over before the driver sped away. Orengo was left lying on the road for almost 40 minutes until a passerby named Tracy stopped to assist him.

“I genuinely thought I was dying,” Orengo recounted from his hospital bed. “I feared I wouldn’t make it out alive.”

Orengo, who suffered nine broken bones including a spine injury, severe head trauma, a broken right leg, fractured left knee, fractured rib and neck fracture, told First Coast News the collision “literally turned my life upside down.”

Doctors told him recovery could take years and he may not walk again. He described being unable to work as a cook, build houses or take beach walks with his wife.

The family says the woman, identified only as Tracy, stopped after noticing Orengo’s white socks in the dark and stayed with him until first responders arrived.

“I call her my angel, she saved me,” Orengo said.

His mother, Bedenissis Feliciano, who rushed from Pennsylvania after learning of the crash, called Tracy “his mother at that time” and thanked her from the bottom of her heart.

Troopers released photos of a 2004-2006 gray or silver truck, possibly a GMC or Chevrolet, believed to be similar to the suspect vehicle.

Orengo’s wife, Jessenia Orengo, said watching his trauma is heartbreaking.

“It’s sad to see him scream and jump and beg people to help him forget,” she said. “You destroyed my husband.”

The family expressed outrage that the driver fled.

“I would’ve forgave him as a mother … but this man just left my son to die on the side of the road like if he was nobody,” Feliciano said.

The family is urging the driver to come forward.

“You took everything from me,” Eric Orengo said. “You took the fun that I had in life, and you just ripped it from me in a blink of an eye.”

“All I beg is for you to turn yourself in because God don’t like ugly, and eventually everyone gets their time. Whatever the things you do in the dark come to light,” his wife said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Florida Highway Patrol or submit an anonymous tip through Crime Stoppers.

Orengo’s family expressed gratitude for community support and requested continued prayers during his recovery. A GoFundMe has been created to help the family.