The next time Carlos Burruel and Scotty McKinney cross paths, feelings of pain and anxiety will be replaced with gratitude and relief.
The two technically “met” around 2:40 a.m. Wednesday as McKinney pulled Burruel to safety after he was struck by an SUV that fled the scene in the 3600 block of West Diversey Avenue.
McKinney’s roommate called 911.
“I would like to say thank-you to them,” Burruel told the Chicago Sun-Times Monday morning from his hospital bed. “They helped me when I needed it.”
When McKinney learned that Burruel wanted to meet him, he was relieved to hear the man he helped was still alive.
“I’m glad to hear he’s doing OK,” McKinney said.
Burruel, 44, was on his way home from work at Papa Ray’s Pizza & Wings when he was hit, according to Mayra Hernandez, who shares three children with Burruel.
McKinney, 26, said he had been winding down for the night and scrolling through his phone when he heard a noise outside. Burruel was lying in the street, and McKinney jumped up, rushed outside and started flagging down drivers.
When no one stopped, McKinney pulled the unconscious Burruel by the collar to the side of the road and stayed with him until paramedics took him in critical condition to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center with several injuries.
“I feel blessed, honestly, that someone was there looking out for him,” Hernandez said, adding that McKinney “helped save his life.”
“I’m very lucky that [the driver] didn’t kill him,” she said.
There’s no timetable for Burruel to be released from Illinois Masonic. He suffered a broken leg, orbital fracture, back, hip injuries and scrapes and bruises on his right shoulder and arm, said Hernandez, 35.
He also has a rod extending from the top of his broken leg to the bottom and is scheduled for surgery April 10, Hernandez said.
“He’s in a really hard place right now,” Hernandez said of Burruel — who was also heavily medicated and possibly concussed. “He can’t really move, he can’t be standing up.”
Hernandez found out about the accident Saturday after calling to check in on Burruel when she didn’t hear from him for a couple of days.
“He was just very disoriented,” Hernandez said when reflecting on the first conversation she had with him after the crash. “I came to see him, and it’s not at all how I expected to see him.”
Hernandez said she hopes the driver of the SUV is held accountable. Police released images of the vehicle, a dark gray four-door with yellow Illinois temporary plates.
No one was in custody as the investigation continued Monday afternoon, Chicago police said.
“They need to get caught,” Hernandez said. “No child needs to see their father or mother in this rough shape.”
Burruel’s and Hernandez’s 12-year-old daughter and two sons, 8 and 4, were shaken by the sight of their father in the condition he was in.
“It hurts them,” Hernandez said. “They don’t see him often because him and I aren’t together but their dad is everything to them.”
He’s a good dad, and it made them really, really sad.”
For Hernandez, the last few days have been an “emotional roller coaster.”
“He’s the father of my children. I gotta show my support in any way, shape or form that I can,” she said.
Despite his long road to recovery, Burruel said he’s grateful for the support from Hernandez, their three children and McKinney.
“I appreciate it very much,” Burruel said. “It’s good to know I got somebody rooting for me.”