MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A Miami Beach parking attendant was left with bruises and bleeding from her head after, she says, a woman allegedly tried to run her over with a car.
Dora Martinez, 67, has returned home from the hospital with at least seven staples in her head following an alleged confrontation with 37-year-old Anna Molina, along the 200 block of 16th Street, on Saturday.
“My head hurts,” she said through a translator.
The nine-year parking garage attendant said Molina yelled, screamed and refused to pay after she parked at the garage where she works.
Martinez said Molina tried to lift the parking arm, so she could exit the structure, pushed the 67-year-old to the ground and tried to take her cellphone, so she couldn’t call police on her. Molina then allegedly threw her car in reverse and intentionally ran into Martinez.
“She tells me, ‘Give me your phone,'” Martinez said. “The car hit me here, so I threw myself like this.”
Justin Fletcher had been walking home from work when he heard screams coming from the parking garage. He said he followed his instincts, looked inside to see if help was needed and tried to defuse the situation. However, moments later, he watched as Martinez was struck.
“[She] rammed her car back into an old lady,” he said. “She tried to kill this lady.”
Martinez said she blacked out at that point, and Fletcher said she had been injured by the act.
“She was bleeding out of her head,” Fletcher said. “I had blood on myself.”
Molina would allegedly break through one of the parking garage’s exit gates and sped away from the scene, according to witnesses and Miami Beach Police.
Officers would later catch up with the 37-year-old along 17th Street and Washington Avenue. When they took her into custody, police found a loaded 9mm handgun in her purse, and witnesses confirmed to them that Molina was the woman they were searching for.
Martinez was rushed to a nearby hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.
Fletcher said he is happy to have been in the right place at the right time.
“I just hope that someone would do that to me if I was in that situation,” he said.
Molina faces charges that include aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and leaving the scene of an accident after causing bodily harm.
Police added that the 37-year-old is a convicted felon because of jail records they cited on the arrest report.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.