LACKAWANNA COUNTY, Pa. — "I had a split second. I looked at my mirror, and there was a truck coming right at me. I had a feeling I wasn't going to make it."
Patrick Ryder can't remember much of what happened Friday night when he was driving to the Pocono Mountain Carnival.
However, dash cam video details the moment a tractor-trailer slammed Ryder's car from behind, sending his car flying off of Interstate 380 near Dunmore. As seen in the video, the driver of the 16-wheeler kept on going and never stopped.
"It shocks me that I'm still here. I feel like I should've not made that, especially in a small car," said Ryder.
Patrick has been hitting the road with his red Mazda Miata for the past decade. He recalls getting it when he turned 16-years-old.
"It was my first car in high school that my dad gifted me. By the looks of it, it looks like a really expensive car, but he got it for like 3,500 dollars, and the transmission blew," he recalls.
Together, he and his dad worked to rebuild the car over the years. Moments that turned into cherished memories.
"That thing, after my dad passed in 2021, it felt like he was still with me," he said.
Under a tarp, those memories, much like the metal of the Mazda, now sits twisted and totaled. Ryder has spent the past several days searching for the person who did it.
"I don't know how someone can do this. He doesn't know if I'm alive or if I'm dead, or if he even cares," he states about the driver of the tractor-trailer.
While Ryder says he was the only one in the car that day, he knows he didn't go through that crash alone.
"I feel like [my dad] was right in the passenger seat with me. He was helping me out of that car with the good people who were there trying to put me in the ambulance," he says.
Ryder says he's thankful there was a number of other drivers, including an ambulance, who witnessed the crash and stopped to help. He says he's lucky to just have some aches and pains, and no major injuries.
Ryder and his family are working to find the US DOT number or the license plate of the truck. Anyone who may have seen the crash or may have any information is asked to call Pennsylvania State Police in Dunmore.
See news happening? Text our Newstip Hotline.