Texas cyclist is dragged screaming for 2,000 feet under a truck leaving her with horror injuries including an exposed spine

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A Texas cyclist was dragged 2,000 feet by a truck that hit her and kept going.

Elizabeth English was riding her bike in Austin, Texas when a pickup truck hit her earlier this week, trapping her underneath.

She kept her head up to protect her brain, leaving the rest of her body badly injured. Detectives said witnesses heard her screaming.

Artemio Gomez Avila, 41, has been arrested and charged with failure to stop and render aid as authorities say he kept driving after hitting English.

English, a psychiatry student at the University of Texas, was on her way home when a Dodge pickup truck hit her from behind, according to a Go Fund Me page set up for her. 

Ella Feaster, a witness who lives near the scene of the crash, told KVUE she could hear her screaming as she was sitting on her own couch.

English suffered severe injuries to her leg, hip and back. Her lower spine and muscles are exposed as she has no skin left on her back.

Police say Avila drove away, leaving English to be rescued by witnesses.

'She didn't look human. She looked like an animal initially. Then after seeing that, we noticed it was a person,' one of them, Roger Taylor, told Fox 7. 

Detectives got a description of the vehicle that struck English and arrested Avila the next day. 

Avila initially told officers that he had lent his car to someone else and was home at the time of the crash, court documents say.

He then admitted he had been involved in a crash but said he had only heard a 'slight bump' according to the affidavit.

He has now been charged with failure to stop and render aid and given a $100,000 bond. Avila is also being held on an immigration detainer, WISH-TV reported.

Meanwhile English is recovering in Austin's University Medical Center Brackenridge.

She was in critical condition after the crash and needed a breathing tube, communicating with a white erase board.

The breathing tube has now been taken out and English can speak again according to a Facebook page that tracks her progress.

She will have surgery on Monday to remove damaged tissue and will ultimately require skin grafting.

'Ironically, Beth's main concern is for her beloved fiancée Charlotte and her family and not herself!' the Go Fund Me page states.