UCF student recovering after wrong-way driver hit him while taking Uber home: 'He's going to make it'

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. - A University of Central Florida student is recovering in the hospital after a wrong-way driver hit him and his Uber driver head-on Interstate-4.

Four people were hurt in the Seminole County crash that happened shortly before 7:30 a.m. Sunday on westbound I-4 near the Central Parkway Bridge in Altamonte Springs.

Sandra Frutchey said her son, 26-year-old Marcus Frutchey, was riding in an Uber on his way home from a friend's house. 

Photo: Sandra Frutchey

She said some of Marcus' friends told her Marcus was adamant on not taking an Uber at 2 a.m., thinking taking one at 7 a.m. would be safer on the roads.

"He told his friend, 'I'm not going to go home. It's 2:00 in the morning, there are drunk drivers on the road. I'm not going to Uber home yet, I'll Uber when I wake up in the morning,'" she said.

At 7:19 a.m., Florida Highway Patrol responded to a crash that Marcus was in.

Photo: Sandra Frutchey

Sandra woke up to an alert on her phone at 7:22 a.m. from Life 360, a family and friends GPS tracking app. It told her something might have happened to her son and she should check on him.

She eventually got a call from Orlando Health that her son was in the hospital and they needed to get there immediately. She said it took her hours to find out if her son was still alive. 

By the time the family got to the hospital, he was in the trauma unit.

Photo: Sandra Frutchey

"We could see him and oh my God, nobody should see their son in bed like that. You would not believe, his guts were displayed wide open. But, he's going to make it," she said while fighting back tears. "(Doctors) said his bowels were hanging out of him, his intestines, his appendix they had to put them all back in and sow him up temporarily."

Frutchey said Marcus did have his seatbelt on, it saved his life. 

He has no brain damage, but the damage from the seatbelt is going to be a long road to recovery. 

Photo: Sandra Frutchey

Right now, he is able to make small face gestures to his family.  

"He will have surgeries for the next year or so, maybe even his whole life they told us," she said. "I truly believe in the power of prayer and people have been so supportive, offering meals and stuff."