A Florida couple said they were attacked and pepper-sprayed by two women after briefly stepping into the road while walking to work.
Felyz Rodriguez, who is transgender, and Davin Lopez were walking in northwest Miami-Dade on Sunday when they briefly left the sidewalk. The couple told NBC Miami that two women in a car confronted them and allegedly began hurling abuse.
The encounter quickly escalated. In video shared online, the driver—who was wearing bright green booty shorts—can be seen scuffling with Rodriguez in the street and pulling her hair.
Rodriguez was eventually thrown to the ground after becoming caught in the vehicle’s open door.
The couple said the confrontation began as a road-rage incident after the women became angry that they were walking in the street.
“They were like, guys, get out of the road, idiots,” Lopez said, describing the moments before the alleged attack.
Lopez acknowledged making a “hand gesture” toward the vehicle after the women shouted at them. He said the driver then made an abrupt U-turn and sped back toward the couple.
Rodriguez began filming with her phone. In the footage, Lopez walks in front of her and asks the women in the car, “Why the f–k y’all bothering us?”
The couple said both women then got out of the vehicle and attacked them.
“Next thing you know, one gets out and starts pepper spraying me,” Lopez said.
The sound of pepper spray being discharged can be heard in the recording as Rodriguez filmed the car and captured its license plate.
A separate video recorded by a nearby resident captured the violent confrontation at a corner close to the resident’s home.
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“There is a girl in a car trying to run over a guy at the corner of my house,” the resident can be heard telling authorities during a phone call.
Rodriguez said she tried not to escalate the situation, even after one of the women pulled her hair.
“She yanks me. I’m trying my best to not put my hands on anybody because, instead of trying to make it worse, I’m trying to de-escalate it.”
Rodriguez said she was being assaulted beside the open driver’s-side door when the second woman got behind the wheel and began reversing.
The video shows Rodriguez becoming entangled in the open door before being thrown onto the pavement.
“Oh my god! Oh my god!” the resident recording the incident can be heard shouting in fear as the vehicle reverses into Rodriguez.
Investigators said Rodriguez and Lopez suffered bruises, cuts and swelling. The two women then left the scene, according to the couple.
“It was all unprovoked; we’re just walking,” Rodriguez said.
“It’s just sad, honestly, just thinking about it, it confuses me, I’m confused, I’m distraught, I’m just traumatized at this point honestly.”
Rodriguez questioned whether the attack was a “hate crime.”
“Is it a hate crime, is it something personal, or is it simply you have nothing to do?” Rodriguez told the outlet.
Lopez wrote on Facebook Monday that “hopefully they are able to catch these females for causing us distress and emotional/physical damage.”
“People like this who think it’s okay to just antagonize, provoke and ATTACK ANYONE just out of boredom should pay serious consequences… and we gonna make sure of it,” he wrote.