HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – South Florida attorney Jim Demiles was jogging in his neighborhood when a driver struck him and fractured his spine.
According to Demiles, he was running westbound on Thomas Street a few blocks from his Hollywood home when a car struck him as he crossed the street.
The driver, a young woman, sent Demiles flying into the air. He recalled his head hitting the windshield and talking to the driver as he lay on the ground after she stopped to offer aide.
"I looked up and it was the young woman who hit me," Demiles said. "Her first words were, 'thank God you're alive.'"
"They were calling me miracle man because they couldn't believe I lived," Demiles added.
Demiles, thankful to walk, is required to wear a back brace for up to three months.
Demiles' account says the driver told him that she briefly looked down at her phone. The driver, who declined to comment on camera, said that Demiles was running in the middle of the road and she did not look at her phone.
The young driver did receive a citation for the incident, while Demiles did not.