LISBON — It can be dangerous walking along a two-lane road in the middle of the night. A Columbiana County man was doing just that on Sunday, carrying a light and walking toward traffic for safety, but a car crossed into his path and hit him. The driver of the vehicle has not yet been identified.

Cole Milsom received twelve stitches on his cheek and protective padding on his arm to help with multiple broken bones.

“I’m not gonna lie, for getting hit by a car, I consider myself pretty lucky,” Milsom said.

The 18-year-old was hit while pushing his bike along state Route 164 outside of Lisbon. He was on his way to watch the sunrise with his girlfriend and was struck just 600 feet away from her house.

“The car swerved into me. I saw the lights right in front of me,” he said.

Milsom’s bike broke into pieces, and the handlebars flew off and into the grass. One wheel was next to the road, and the other landed off the road. Milsom had ridden three miles and was walking the bike instead of riding up a hill to his girlfriend’s house.

“Everything that happened the way it happened, I feel like is the reason I’m alive,” Milsom said. “If I didn’t bring the bike, I don’t think I would have lived. If I was on the bike. I don’t think I would live.”

Troopers gathered pieces of the vehicle that hit Milsom and are tracking numbers on them. Security video from a business near the road may have captured the incident.

Milsom wants to see the driver caught and brought to justice.

“They should be held accountable,” he said. “Not enough people are being held accountable these days, and I really am glad to see the Ohio State Highway Patrol stand up and, you know, push forward on that investigation. And I actually can’t be happier with the way I’m working with them.”

Milsom says his family has put up a reward for any information to help catch the driver.