(Newser)
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A paraplegic man is recovering after being dumped on a desolate road in the New Mexico desert without his wheelchair. Ricky Gilmore says he spent three days dragging himself four miles down the road after a couple he met while hitchhiking tossed him out of their vehicle when he declined to share his alcohol, the AP reports. The 49-year-old is being treated for kidney failure from dehydration, a blood infection, and a sprained wrist.
Gilmore, who lost the use of his legs in a car crash 19 years ago, says three cars passed him during the first two days of his ordeal but they didn't stop when he waved. A vehicle finally stopped on the third day, and Gilmore says he doesn't believe he could have survived a third night in the desert. Cops are searching for the couple who left him in the desert. "I just got on the devil's ride," Gilmore tells the Farmington Daily Times. "I just want to heal up and go home and change my life around and keep going."
