The teen driver who was behind the wheel when a tornado took his pick up truck for a ride has been found.
You may remember the video that went viral on social media earlier this week when a storm spun a red pick up like a toy car before it was righted and drove off.
Omg… just going thru my video. This is a story about a red truck and a tornado…. I CANNOT believe they drove away like that. #txwx #tornado pic.twitter.com/8h0nD88xFv
— Brian Emfinger (@brianemfinger) March 22, 2022
>>Related: Must see: Texas tornado spins pickup truck before it drives away
Sixteen-year-old Riley Leon said he was the one in the truck when the storm picked it up, flipping it on its side, and spinning it several times before landing it back on all four wheels.
Leon said he was on his way to a job interview when he saw the storm rolling in, but he couldn’t miss the meeting. He ended up getting the job at a local Whataburger and starts on Monday, KHOU reported.
The truck belonged to his father and he had worked to buy it from his dad.
The truck was damaged during the scary ride and now has several scratches and dents. The side mirrors were also ripped off and the windows were blown out.
Luckily, several car dealerships have called Leon to help him get it fixed.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: We tracked down the red pickup truck from the viral video that showed it flipping over in the Elgin tornado Monday.
— KXAN News (@KXAN_News) March 23, 2022
STORY: https://t.co/8xYSHiTAVA pic.twitter.com/uUZQf0Bg7z
>>Related: Spinning truck: Red truck picked up by tornado found
A driver who had seen it all happen told KXAN that Leon was “in shock. He was crying.”
Leon was shaken by the storm but is still trying to put the pieces together on why and how he was left pretty much unscathed.
“He had a scrape or some cuts on his left arm,” Commander Aaron Crim told KXAN earlier this week.
“Thankful to God for giving me another chance in this life. He probably did for some reason. Probably, in the future, gonna bring better plans into my life,” he told KHOU.
A Chevrolet dealer has gifted Leon with a new truck.
Bruce Lowrie Chevy in Fort Worth gave the 16-year-old a 2022 Chevy Silverado, red of course, just like the one that was damaged in the storm, KXAS reported.
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