20-year-old upbeat months after losing leg in hit-and-run

No matter the situation, Andrew Hall doesn't lose hope, and now he is feeling the winds of possibility at his back.

Sunday afternoon, he was released from Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, where he spent seven months after being hit while walking by a man police say was driving drunk.

The April 20 wreck severed the 20-year-old's leg, crushed his pelvis and broke both his arms.

"It's good to be home," said Hall, who is staying at his father's Clearwater home. "It's good to be where I want to be with my dad and be back with family and start life over again."

Life, since the accident, has been a challenge and a major adjustment. Hall says it's a miracle he's alive.

"Things are different," Hall said. "I have overcome things, and I'll overcome this. But the hardest thing is (that) this has and will affect my life forever."

Despite the challenges, Hall is optimistic about the future. He plans to study nursing and is considering public speaking, becoming an advocate against drunken driving or supporting an amputee coalition.

Police say the man who hit Hall, Joshua Dean West, 25, of Tampa, was driving drunk on Main Street in Safety Harbor. He drove off but was captured nearby by a sheriff's dog, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

West's blood-alcohol level measured at 0.188 and 0.19, according to records. State law presumes a driver is impaired at 0.08.

He faces charges of driving under the influence in a wreck that caused serious bodily injury, leaving the scene of a crash involving injury and operating a motor vehicle without a driver's license in a situation that caused serious bodily injury.

Hall thinks about West from time to time.

"There's days where I'd love to spit in his face," Hall said. "But at the same rate, I'll always turn the other cheek. There are nights I pray for him."