MIAMI (WSVN) - An elderly woman is speaking out after she was left injured with broken ribs and bruises from a chaotic crash in Little Havana this past weekend.
Speaking with 7News from her bed on Wednesday, Eva Alvarez said she was one of two passengers riding in a car when an Uber driver hit it after the rideshare driver lost control when her passenger allegedly began to grope her.
Alvarez, speaking in Spanish, said she hardly remembers the impact.
“I don’t remember anything, just the airbag hitting my neck and jaw,” she said.
Despite suffering from broken ribs and injuries to her neck, Alvarez said she’s grateful the crash prevented the assault from getting any worse.
“I think [the crash] saved her,” said Alvarez.
The chain of events occurred last Saturday night near Southwest Eighth Street and Sixth Avenue when, police say, the victim was a rideshare driver, and her passenger was 26-year-old Oscar Ernesto Sanchez Aguirre. The arrest report states that Sanchez Aguirre covered the woman’s mouth and began to grope her. That is when she lost control of her SUV, hit another car, and crashed into the wall of a building.
The intersection where the crash happened was littered with debris after the impact.
Another witness, Candela Navarro, heard the moment the victim’s white SUV crashed into a building as she was on her way home. She spoke to 7News on Tuesday about her race to the rescue of the rideshare driver.
“What she immediately was, ‘He tried to rape me, he tried to rape me, he tried to touch me, abuse me,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, my God,’” said Navarro.
Navarro then took cellphone video of the moment Sanchez Aguirre tried running away from the scene, but police say he wasn’t able to get too far and was swiftly arrested.
Days later, Alvarez lies in her bed recovering from the crash and wishes the victim well.
As for Sanchez Aguirre, he faces charges of battery and culpable negligence resulting in injuries. His hearing has been rescheduled to March 2.
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