'It's a blessing to be here still': North Port man survives hit-and-run crash on side of I-75

NORTH PORT, Fla. - Zachary Edmonds and Jadziah Earle had a lot more to celebrate than New Year’s Eve. 

It was also Zachary’s 20th birthday. 

"It was her last day working that night and I said, ‘it’s perfect; we will come home and do cake and do a bigger celebration,’" Zachary said. 

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Zachary, a night security officer, stayed home with their son.

As Jaziah headed to work at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, she ran into trouble on I-75. 

"My car ran out of gas, [and] I called him to come help," she said.

Zachary loaded up their son, grabbed a gas can, and came to Jaziah’s rescue just after 7 p.m. on I-75 North near the Jacaranda exit. 

"I was on the other side of the car, putting the baby in the car and the car moved," Jadziah recalled. 

The car moved because it had just been side swiped by a passing vehicle. 

The gas cap cover was torn off and Zachary was thrown out of his shoes, taking the brunt of the collision. 

"Instinctually, my right arm grabbed my left arm and tried to pick it up and my humerus was broken and it kind of just dangled there and I just used my hand and scootched back to the bumper of the car to just try to sit up," he said. 

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An ambulance rushed him to the hospital as a trauma alert with road rash from his back down, and injuries to his head, legs, and arm. 

"I just remember lying there and asking if I was going to die. And they’d tell me no," he said. "It was hard to believe at first."

Troopers are working to try and identify the driver. 

"He is incredibly fortunate to still be alive," Trooper Ken Watson said. "To be struck by a car on the interstate traveling at that high speed." 

Watson told FOX 13 that the vehicle that hit Zachary was gray or silver. 

Leaving the scene of a hit-and-run is a felony. They are hopeful the driver will be identified. 

"The person that caused this crash, I don’t know how you could ever sleep again without turning yourself in, doing the right thing, giving this family a little bit of justice," Watson said. "I understand these things happen but to step up and do the right thing is the only way to go." 

The couple just moved to North Port in September from Harrisburg Pennsylvania. 

Jaziah was supposed to start nursing classes and Zachary has waited his whole life to become a police officer. 

"We are having a hard time right now. They’ve caused pain in every way possible" said Jaziah. 

For now, Zachary cannot pick up his own son. His birthday cake remains in the refrigerator, uncut. 

As he recovers, they ask the driver to do the right thing. 

"I would just ask them to put themselves in our shoes," he said. "You’d want to know who that person was. You’d want answers more than anything." 

The community is working to help Zachary with medical bills and expenses.