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KATY, Texas (FOX 26) - It's hurts for Damien Mayorga to talk.
"How am I even alive right now?" asks Mayorga, with swollen lips and battered. He is alive after he was struck by a sport utility vehicle as he was riding his skateboard to Taylor High School in Katy. Mayorga was heading down the Mason Creek hike and bike trail and crossing Pine Park Drive when he was injured.
"I was halfway across and I had this weird feeling behind me, so I turned around and saw this SUV right here."
Now he is gulping down pain medication and nursing injuries, too many to mention. The Taylor senior is missing classes. His mother can't believe she wasn't aware of how dangerous his daily commute is.
"I feel bad," says Olga Mayorga. "My son has been going to school this way for years. I had no idea how unsafe it was for him. So as a mother, I feel I've failed."
It's been common knowledge to the children who make the trek and the people who live in the area. Diahn Krall-Romero lives on the intersection and witnessed an injured Damien lying in her front yard. She says they successfully fought to lower the speed limit by five miles an hour, but it's not enough. Residents told deputy constables that they want speed bumps there.
"They said the county doesn't allow speed bumps because its county paved, so that car right there can't possibly be doing the speed limit," says Krall-Romero as a vehicle whizzes by. She would settle for a stop sign, as would Damien. But what he really wants is to be the last person injured at the crossing.
"For this to happen, I don't what to see anyone else to go through this," adds Damien.
Is it true about the speed blimps? FOX 26 News has reached out to the head of the county infrastructure and are waiting for a response.