We would hope that people would check to make sure someone was alright if they slipped off their car and hit the pavement hard. But that’s not what one man in Florida did after leaving a woman lying unconscious in the middle of a McDonald’s parking lot. Now she’s brain-dead, while he’s behind bars.
Woman later brought to a hospital in critical condition
On September 19 at around 8:40 a.m., a driver of a silver car who was later identified by investigators as 28-year-old Ismel Baro-Rodriguez was captured on surveillance camera leaving 37-year-old Nikkita Wongchong on the pavement at a McDonald’s in Florida, according to a report by WPLG Local 10. The restaurant is located in Miami-Dade County at 26601 S. Dixie Highway.
Video shows Wongchong allegedly sitting on the trunk of the car when Baro-Rodriguez accelerated. The victim fell to the ground and hit her head, falling unconscious as the driver fled from the scene and out of the parking lot. Passing drivers are seen getting out of their cars to check on the injured woman.
Deputies from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office arrived on the scene to find the woman still lying face-down on the concrete. As paramedics rushed to the scene, police performed CPR.
Wongchong was taken to Jackson South Medical Center in critical condition. Doctors later determined that she was brain-dead.
Meanwhile, investigators were able to trace the suspect’s vehicle from the surveillance footage and located Baro-Rodriguez at his residence, which wasn’t far from the McDonadl’s. The arrest report says the man gave a “full confession” to what he did.
Deputies say that the surveillance footage shows that the man and woman arrived at the location together, though the report does not provide further details on the relationship between them.
Baro-Rodriguez has been charged on one count of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm.
