Cyclist hit and dragged by SUV speaks out for first time

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A Chicago bicyclist who is hospitalized after being hit by and dragged under an SUV is speaking publicly for the first time. The SUV hit Scott Jacobson as he was riding near 35th and Lowe in Bronzeville Monday night.

He is recovering, surrounded by family, at Stroger Hospital. He said the whole thing could have been prevented if the driver had stopped right away.

"I seriously feel lucky," Jacobson says. "I thought I was dead even, I thought it was over."

In his hospital bed, Jacobson recalls the frightful ordeal.

"As it started to hit me, I put my hand on the car. I was looking at the guy. I slowly got sucked under the car," he recalls.

Police say the driver was 26-year-old Joshua Thomas. Jacobson says Thomas kept his foot on the gas the whole time.

"So I was dragged for a quarter block, and was able to plead with him to please, stop," he says.

When Thomas stopped near a fire station, Jacobson says firefighters rushed to his aide.

"I was like, please lift the car off of me," Jacobson recalls.

No longer pinned under the weight of the SUV, he called his wife Rachel.

"The paramedics, when I asked them if he would be okay, said, 'we hope so,' and I pretty much immediately figured that it's really, really, bad and 'we hope so' is code for 'he's going to die,'" Rachel Jacobson says.

Thoughts of their children immediately came to mind.

"I was thinking about what their last memory of their dad will have been," she says.

Now they're with him as he recovers from his injures.

"My pelvis is broken in three places. The ball in my femur is broken. I have road rash burns that go down to the bone," Scott says.

"Thank god he's alive," says Rachel.

Thomas is facing several charges stemming from the crash, including driving on a revoked license. Jacobson says he showed no remorse.

"He didn't peek around to see how I was doing. He just looked like something bad that happened to him today," he says.

There is a GoFundMe campaign set up to help pay for Jacobson's medical expenses.