Amethyst Delgado said the crash happened Sept. 3, shortly before 9 p.m., as she was driving home from work on Highway 151 near the Potranco Road exit.

SAN ANTONIO — A 22-year-old University of Texas at San Antonio student says she is lucky to be alive after a violent hit-and-run crash sent her vehicle flying off Highway 151 and left her scrambling to escape an overturned car.

Amethyst Delgado said the crash happened Sept. 3, shortly before 9 p.m., as she was driving home from work on Highway 151 near the Potranco Road exit.



This story continues below.

Delgado said traffic was slowing as vehicles approached the exit when she saw the headlights of a white truck approaching rapidly from behind.

“I ran myself off the road a little bit to give it room because I thought that it was trying to pass me,” Delgado said.

Instead, she said, the truck slammed into her vehicle.

The impact pushed Delgado’s car into the vehicle in front of her before her car struck a guardrail and went off the highway.

“I spun in the air, and when the car finally landed, it was upside down,” she said.

Delgado said she was restrained by her seat belt and feared the vehicle could catch fire. Her driver’s-side window was closed, but the passenger-side window had shattered during the crash.

She said she crawled out through the broken window.

“I just remember crawling my way out from under the seat belt,” Delgado said. “I just remember thinking, like, ‘I cannot die right now.’”

After escaping the vehicle, Delgado said she found herself alone on the side of the highway. She said the truck that hit her had left the scene and that the other vehicle involved in the crash also did not stop.

“I had to wave down and scream for people to help,” she said.

Someone eventually stopped and called for emergency responders. Delgado was taken to the emergency room.

Doctors determined she had no broken bones, but Delgado said she suffered extensive bruising, swelling and open wounds, particularly on the right side of her body.

“I have some bruising right here on my face from the steering wheel,” she said. “The right side of my body is scraped up.”

Delgado, who hopes to become a lawyer, said the crash has created financial challenges in addition to her injuries.

She works two jobs to help pay for school and said she used her savings to pay her tuition in August. She said she was unable to make her car insurance payment that month.

“Two weeks ago, I used every last cent in there to pay my tuition,” Delgado said. “I thought, you know, what’s one month without insurance?”

She said she still owes about $2,000 on the vehicle and now needs to find a way to replace it.

A GoFundMe campaign was started to help Delgado with her expenses. The fundraiser had raised nearly $6,000 as of Saturday.

Delgado said she hopes investigators can identify the driver of the white truck. She believes the vehicle may have sustained significant damage in the crash.

She also said she has struggled to understand why the driver left the scene.

“I know he thinks about it and I know that it’s sitting in his conscience that he doesn’t know if I was left for dead or if I made it out alive, and that’s something that he’s going to have to deal with for the rest of his life,” Delgado said.

Despite what happened, Delgado said the experience has changed her outlook and strengthened her desire to help others.

“I’m not done here,” she said.

Anyone who wants to help Delgado can find a link to her GoFundMe fundraiser by clicking here.