(5/06/06 - KTRK/HOUSTON) - A Houston man describes a wild ride, not in a car, but on it, as he tried to stop the hit and run driver who hit his car and then almost ran over him. It was a terrifying ride that started at Bellaire and White Drive and ended at San Felipe and the West Loop. All the while, the man was holding on to the hood.

The ride on the hood was so unbelievable that eyewitnesses thought Roy Perez was actually an actor making a movie, but it was far from it. He didn't jump on the hood because he wanted to. He says he did it because he had to.

With a broken ankle and cuts on his face, Perez has injuries typical of an auto-pedestrian accident, but what he was involved in is far from typical.

"I was screaming, yelling and I would look at him and ask him to stop and he didn't care," said Perez.

The accused driver is 17-year-old Alan Athari.

We asked Athari why he kept driving while Perez was on his hood.

"I stopped," said Athari. "He wouldn't get off."

It all started near Bellaire and Stella Link. Perez says Athari, who was in a Cadillac Escalade, hit his truck and then took off. Perez followed and when they got to the West Loop, he got out to confront him.

"I got in front of his hood and told him, 'No, you're not going anywhere,'" said Perez. "So he started pressing the gas and I was so scared, so I just jumped."

Perez says he jumped on top of the hood and held on as tight as he could. As they entered the freeway...

"He kept swerving back and forth, trying to throw me," said Perez.

For two and a half miles, Perez says he rode like that. When he finally fell off near the San Felipe overpass, he says Athari ran over his ankle and kept going.

We asked Athari if he tried to run over Perez.

Athari answered, "No, he was on top of my hood."

Athari was arrested and his Escalade, which was covered in scuff marks and hand prints, impounded. As for Perez...

"I'm very lucky," he said.

Athari is the son of a doctor. He just turned 17 Thursday and technically, wasn't supposed to be driving without an adult. He's charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
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this is just scary. Im glad that he is being charged as an adult and that he is being held accoubntable.

the 17 y/o shows a true lack of compasion with the fact that his statement..he wouldnt get off my hood.

just a thug man thats what he is just athug.

and what the hell is he doing with a escalade...he should bot have had tht car at all.