Coach recounts brutal hit-and-run crash

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) -- The bouncer of a Providence nightclub was struck by a hit-and-run driver this weekend, leaving him with broken ribs and a collapsed lung.

"I thought I was going to die, I couldn't breathe," he said. "Every time I close my eyes I see headlights coming at me."

A teary-eyed Arthur Cardoso recounts the early Sunday morning scene when a car plowed him down in Providence, leaving him for dead.

• Coach Struck by Car in Providence

Cardoso is a father of five and a local football coach by day, and at night works as a bouncer at Tantric Nightclub on North Main Street.

On that fateful night, he says he was walking across North Main to break up a fight when one car let him cross. A second car then came out of nowhere.

"I hit the passenger side fender and hood, did a 360, came back down and landed," he said. "I actually got up, tried to walk, and fell back down."

Coach Arthur, as he's affectionately known by his Warren football team, will now face a long road to recovery. He says he just wants the driver who ran him down to come forward.

"I'm a married father trying to support my family, trying to do the right thing and I can't do it," he added. "I'm out of work for at least six months."

The suspect's car is described as a four-door sedan, possibly silver or grey in color. The Cardoso family believes that police currently have a license plate number.