Texas teen whose truck took a beating in tornado to get a 2022 Chevrolet Silverado

By now you’ve probably seen the viral video of a Texas teenager accidentally taking a tornado head-on and driving through it in his red Chevrolet truck.

While he (fortunately) survived, his truck took a big hit. The video, posted by stormchaser Brian Emfinger, shows the tornado flipping the truck on its side and spinning it around like a toy as the storm ravaged through Elgin on Monday.

The truck then lands back on its tires, and the driver, 16-year-old Riley Leon, drives off.

After a few days of news interviews and a trip to the hospital, Leon is slated to receive a brand new Chevrolet Silverado 1500 thanks to a Fort Worth dealership.

Bruce Lowrie Chevrolet is donating a 2022 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LT All Star Edition in cherry red to the teen and his family, Chevrolet posted on social media on Thursday.

“We are thankful Riley is safe, commend his driving skills during a frightening situation, and our hearts are with other families in Texas that have been affected by these storms,” the post said, adding that Chevy Cares is donating $50,000 to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.

The truck will be presented to Leon and his family on Saturday.

In an interview with Fox 7, Leon said he was doing OK physically but shocked by what happened.

He added that he was heading home from a job interview at Whataburger when he drove upon the tornado.

“And I had missed two U-turns and so I saw that U-turn and I’m like, I’m going to take this one ‘cause I can...I can see it and I don’t see nothing strange around,” he said. “And around right when I was going to take the U-turn, that’s when the tornado coming and it lifted my truck. And that’s when the infamous video of me came out.”

KXAN reported that he was taken to the hospital on Thursday due to fractures in his back.

Read also:

• KSAT viewers share photos, videos of severe weather that moved through San Antonio area