After spending almost six weeks in a coma, the victim of a hit-and-run is now telling her story.
Now on the road to recovery, 53-year-old Michelle Holguin opened up about her ordeal.
“I have back pains. This is broken. There’s something out here that’s out of place,” she said, running her hand over her back and shoulder.
Holguin said she doesn’t remember much of what happened after she was hit. Instead, she said she remembers waking up and being told what happened that night.
Holguin was struck on Sunrise Boulevard while riding her bike home from work, July 15. Officials said Holguin was dragged for 100 feet before the driver fled.
Images from days after the the incident show Holguin in her hospital bed, unconscious and bruised up with tubes coming out of her nose and mouth.
“He was Facebooking or something, he was on his phone. He wasn’t looking,” Holguin said. “He didn’t even see himself hit me. And he just left me there to die — took off. So a lady found me — a nurse, and she knew me. They thought I was a tree or something in the street because he left me in the street, and a lot of stuff was broken. He really — he messed me up big time.”
“It was rough,” Holguin added, fighting back tears.
Holguin is expected to be released from the hospital in the next few days.
A few days after Holguin was struck, police released surveillance video of a car with a smashed windshield driving into a gas station and the driver stepping out to observe the damage.
The driver accused of hitting her, 21-year-old Adrian Perez, later surrendered to police. He has been charged with failure to remain at the scene of an accident involving serious injury.
“The guys didn’t even say ‘I’m sorry.’ I don’t get that. I think that’s what bothers me the most,” said Holguin, crying. “He denied it. They got him on camera — they know who did it. How can he deny it?”
Holguin has hired an attorney to help with her mounting bills.
“She has hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical expenses, and she’s going to have lots of medical expenses in the future,” said attorney Bob Kelly.
There is also a chance that Holguin will not be able to work again.
“I hope he understands what he did, you know. It’s like he didn’t care. I just don’t understand how someone could do that,” she said.
Perez is currently out on bond.