NORTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A South Florida business owner has stepped up to help a young boy who was assaulted and robbed of his cell phone in Northwest Miami-Dade.
Twelve-year-old Danny Machado was in front of his home when he was assaulted and had his iPhone 8 stolen from him, Thursday.
Eli Nash, who owns an electronic distribution company, was touched by Machado’s story and wanted to help. He gave Machado a new iPhone.
“I got you a bit of an upgrade — iPhone 10,” said Nash.
“I will be grateful for you forever, like forever, so thank you so much, thank you,” said Machado’s mother Jessica Antunez. “I really appreciate it, thank you, thank you so much,” she said as she hugged Nash.
“What I’m hoping is that when you think back about the story, you don’t remember his face, but remember mine,” said Nash.
“Oh, we sure will,” said Antunez.
“And the concept of it, right? The concept that most people wanna do good by you, most people don’t wanna do that,” said Nash. “That’s the exception; this is the rule.”
Nash also wrote Danny a letter, which read in part, “This iPhone 10 from us is not just a material possession from us to you, it is us doing our best to help you unpack the gift that this experience has in store for you. Hopefully, within it, we’ve made it a little easier for you to just do that.”
Antunez, a single mother, was grateful for the gesture. “There’s still good people,” she said. “There’s like good things in the humanity. Still, there’s good things out there. People look out for you.”
Machado’s charter school baseball team also rallied around him. He was invited to throw out the first pitch at their game at Barry University, Friday night.
“I think it’s important to take his mind off of what happened, continue to move forward and that he has a good support group outside his mom and family,” said Paul Calli, head coach of Doctors Charter Varsity Baseball.
The team presented Machado with an Apple gift certificate.
“Giving him a gift certificate so he can go to the Apple Store and go crazy and get his accessories back up,” said Calli.
Machado said he will always remember this and has learned the important lesson that kindness does exist.
“Whenever I see someone helping someone or actually doing a good deed or they just overall look like a really nice person, I feel good because I know there are good people in this world,” said Machado.
If you have any information on this assault and robbery, call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a $1,000 reward.
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