TAMPA, Fla. — A survivor of the deadly Ybor City crash returned to St. Joseph’s Hospital on Tuesday to thank the trauma teams that helped save his life, despite remembering very little about his time there.
Connor Dietrich was critically injured in last November’s crash in Ybor City. Investigators say a speeding driver fleeing Florida Highway Patrol troopers slammed into pedestrians outside a bar on 7th Avenue. Four people were killed and more than a dozen others were hurt.
Dietrich suffered a traumatic brain injury, internal bleeding, and multiple fractures. Doctors say he spent weeks in intensive care and faced an uncertain future.
“It was very touch and go. He was in the ICU for a long time,” said Dr. Donald Straub, a general trauma surgeon at St. Joseph’s Hospital.
Dr. Straub said there were days when medical teams were not sure Dietrich would survive.
“We had the discussions that he may not recover,” Straub said.
Because of the severity of his brain injuries, Dietrich says he remembers very little from those early days in the hospital.
“It’s difficult, because I don’t remember anybody here,” Dietrich said Tuesday during a Trauma Survivors Day event at the hospital. “I’m happy to meet everybody.”
Dietrich returned to reconnect with doctors, nurses, and specialists involved in his care and to thank them personally.
“I’ve been told many times that I’m kind of a walking miracle, so I’m very grateful to be here,” he said.
Recovery is still ongoing. Dietrich says he faces additional surgeries and rehabilitation, but hopes to eventually return to school and pursue a career in medicine himself as a physician assistant.
Dietrich also shared one of the few things he remembers from the night of the crash: the sound of tires squealing moments before impact.
The driver accused in the crash, Silas Sampson, remains jailed and faces multiple charges.
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