Photo: Gofundme
A Texas teen is lucky to be alive after getting caught in the middle of a tornado Monday.
The 16-year-old was driving home after leaving a job interview at Whataburger when he crossed paths with the twister, according to theDallasMorning News.
“Omg… just going thru my video. This is a story about a red truck and a tornado,” Emfinger said in a tweet. “I CANNOT believe they drove away like that.”
As of Friday, Emfinger’s video has been viewed nearly 7 million times on Twitter.
“I honestly didn’t know what to do, to grab onto the steering wheel or to start praying,” Leon said in an interview withKXAS.
“On the video, it looks like I drove off but in reality I didn’t,” he added. “I landed in the center of the road and I was just driving to get off the road.”
One of Leon’s teachers, Bianca Jaimes, created aGoFundMefor the 11th-grader to help him with expenses stemming from the incident.
“Riley is so lucky and blessed to have made it out of this terrifying incident,” Jaimes said on the page. “His truck was totaled, but for the most part, he is doing ok. Unfortunately, he has begun to experience body aches and severe back pain, as one would expect after this type of accident.”
Jaimes said she hopes to raise enough funds to cover Leon’s medical expenses since the family does not have health insurance.
“His truck was also totaled, and he is now left with no transportation to school,” Jaimes said. “Let’s rally around this young man and help him out in this time of need. He is a lovely, bright student making plans to graduate next year and could genuinely use some love from our community and anyone else who may have viewed this video and prayed for the passengers.”
The page has raised nearly $31,000 so far. Also, a dealership in the area, Bruce Lowrie Chevrolet, has gifted Leon a new truck to replace his damaged one,WFAAreported.
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But Leon, though, said he is grateful his run-in with the twister didn’t leave him seriously hurt.
“Thankful to God for giving me another chance in this life,” he toldKHOU. “He probably did for some reason. Probably, in the future, gonna bring better plans into my life.”
source: people.com
