Inset: Karina Pubchara-Martinez (WTVJ). Background: The intersection of SW 32nd Street and SW 82nd Avenue in Miami, Florida, where Pubchara-Martinez allegedly hit a 7-year-old boy on a scooter (Google Maps).
An 82-year-old Florida woman driving home from visiting her son's house struck a 7-year-old boy on an electric scooter before she fled the scene and left him on the side of the road "unable to move," according to cops.
The incident occurred around noon on Jan. 10, at the intersection of SW 32nd Street and SW 82nd Avenue in Miami. A probable cause arrest affidavit said the boy was on a scooter with his mother trailing behind. He was trying to cross 32nd Street when he was hit by a Toyota Camry owned by 82-year-old Karina Pubchara-Martinez, who later admitted she was the driver who hit the boy and fled the scene, according to the affidavit.
Pubchara-Martinez never stopped the Camry and kept going, cops said. When officers arrived on the scene, they found the boy "unable to move" on the side of the road. He was suffering from an "acute head injury" along with a broken femur and other scrapes and bruises. Paramedics rushed the boy to the hospital.
Investigators ultimately identified the suspect vehicle and located it nearly two weeks later on Jan. 22, about 3 miles away from the crash site. The car still had front-end damage consistent with the crash, cops wrote in the affidavit.
Cops placed Pubchara-Martinez at the scene of the crash using her cellphone location. She is facing a charge of leaving the scene of a crash with serious injury. She turned herself in on Monday and has since posted a $7,500 bond.
While she declined to speak with investigators, she spoke extensively to local NBC affiliate WTVJ. She appeared to blame the boy for the crash, saying he popped out in front of her as she was driving home from visiting her son.
"I was passing the jail when they hit me," she told the station. "I got afraid because my glasses weren't on my face and I ran away and that's very bad," she added, seemingly admitting to leaving the scene.
"I was passing through and they didn't stop when they're supposed to stop and they hit me," she also said. "But I left, so I'm worse."
Pubchara-Martinez went on to say that she was "sorry for what happened" and was praying for the well-being of the boy she hit.
Meanwhile, the boy's mother said in an interview with WTVJ that she doesn't understand why someone could hit a child and not stop.
"Had I not been outside, I probably would've found him dead or something," the mother said.
The boy has already had numerous surgeries.
"He has a long road ahead of him," she said.