MIAMI (WSVN) - A South Florida woman is speaking out and sharing her story weeks after a man brutally attacked her on board the Miami Metromover in the Brickell neighborhood before he was arrested, leaving her with severe injuries.
Andrea Puerta showed a 7News crew the bruises she suffered during the Sept. 4 incident at the Fifth Street Metromover Station, Saturday night.
“I also have here, I have a lot of marks on my body,” she said. “I don’t know how I’m alive.”
A Miami-Dade Transit surveillance camera captured the horrific moments Puerta’s assailant punched, shoved and yanked her.
“I’ve never seen him in my life. I never know him until that moment,” she said.
The video shows Puerta sitting toward the back of the rail car, as the suspect, later identified as Joshua James King, steps onto the car before exiting, only to return seconds later.
Without warning, he threw and delivered punches to the victim, striking her several times in the head.
At one point, King is seen pausing, as Puerta begs him to stop.
“He started to punch me, and I said, ‘Stop, please, stop,'” she said. “He said, ‘Sorry,’ and when he said ‘sorry,’ I looked at him one last time, and he punched me, and I forgot.”
At that point, Puerta said, she blacked out and doesn’t remember what happened next.
The surveillance footage shows King repeatedly punching her. Things escalated even further, as he is seen shoving the victim across the car, then suddenly yanking her back in the other direction and slamming her into the pole.
After about a minute, the ordeal came to an end, and Puerta was able to exit the Metromover.
King was apprehended soon after the incident. He was arrested on two felony battery charges and one misdemeanor battery charge.
Puerta was taken to the hospital for her injuries and has since been released.
She said she’s still recovering, and more importantly, is still looking for justice.
“I’m not sad. I’ll get so strong that I’m not going to accept that he does this to any person anymore,” she said.
Police said King attacked two other people on Sept. 4. He has since bonded out of jail and is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 25. Puerta said she plans to attend the hearing.
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