It took only a fraction of a second. Alonzo Ray said the vehicle in front of him stopped so abruptly that he didn't have time to stop.
"I hit the rear end of the vehicle, flew through the window, and into the back seat," he said.
But the driver of the minivan didn't stop and pull over.
Rosemary Laguna of Victorville was putting up signs for her yard sale when she caught a glimpse of the accident.
"This van almost ran me and my son over. I looked back and his whole van was smashed in, his window, and I noticed this guy with a helmet," Laguna said.
Despite Ray's repeated attempts to get the driver to pull over, he continued to drive until he got to his driveway, and then he got out.
"At that point, I really don't know what he is going to do. I thought he might take me out to the desert or something because he wasn't stopping," Ray said.
Ray said the driver and his wife eventually drove him back to the scene about two blocks away, where stunned witnesses and emergency personnel were searching a nearby hillside for Ray's body.
Once back at the accident scene, Ray said he found out that the minivan driver did not stop because he didn't have a license.
Despite being thrown through a back window, Ray walked away with only a fractured thumb and minor scrapes.
And for now, he'll be taking a car to work.
