SUNNY ISLES BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A South Florida man who was injured when, he said, he was dragged by the getaway car of the two teens who stole his cellphone is sharing his side of the story.
Twenty-four-year-old Josue Urina said he spent three nights in the intensive care unit. “Burns, burns, burns. Just burns all over my body,” he said.
He rolled up his right pant leg to reveal a large bandage. “I don’t want this happening to someone else,” he said.
Urina said he was trying to sell his cellphone online and met up with potential buyers on Sunny Isles Beach. The victim said they snatched his phone, and then he grabbed onto the passenger as they drove away.
When asked what was going through his mind during the tense moments, Urina replied, “When you have an instinct and something happens like that, you just, you just — it’s a reaction.”
Police said Urina was dragged four blocks. He suffered severe road rash.
“I could have got crushed on the street,” said Urina.
When asked how important was Urina’s case, Sunny Isles Police Detective Mitch Glansberg said, “It was priority one. The victim’s injuries were really serious.”
Police later arrested the subjects, who were identified as 17-year-old Angela Alidor and 17-year-old Joshua Bryant.
Bryant smiled for 7News cameras as police took him to jail on Wednesday. When asked to comment on the case, he snickered and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Why are you laughing?” a 7News reporter asked the suspect.
Bryant continued to laugh and did not reply.
Urina said Bryant also laughed as he was being dragged, and the suspected robber’s reaction continues to haunt him. “Every day I wake up, it’s just pain, and me thinking about that laugh every morning, every night,” he said. “I can’t sleep, just thinking about that … He laughed as I was being dragged. I will never forget that face. I will never forget that woman’s face laughing at me also.”
Urina is being represented by the Rubinstein Law Firm. Attorney Jordan Kirby said he saw the story on 7News on Wednesday.
“As I was seeing it, it really made me feel that these people really need to be gone after,” said Kirby. “We need to continue to pursue the claims against them, because it is just disgusting.”
Urina said he is facing a long road to recovery. “I’m surprised I’m standing up right now,” he said.
Bryant appeared in court on Thursday. He will remain behind bars until his next scheduled court appearance in a couple of weeks.
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