MIAMI – A woman who was stabbed in the eye while cleaning a Pompano Beach restroom said she's happy to be alive if only for her 11-year-old daughter.
DuJuan Johnson said she was cleaning the restroom at Weaver Community Park when a man walked in wielding a butcher knife.
"He kept saying, 'Ma'am, may I use the bathroom? Ma'am, may I use the bathroom?' He kept repeating it," Johnson said in an exclusive interview with Local 10 News. "When he got to that third 'ma'am,' that's when he attacked me. And he just threw me against the wall. He said, '(Expletive), don't move.'"
That's when the 35-year-old mother knew she was in a fight for her life.
"He choked me. He cut me on my cheekbone, see right here?" Johnson said, pointing to her wound. "Then I told him, 'I have a child.' And he just stabbed me in my eye."
Johnson said she fought with the man, grabbing the knife and chasing him out of the bathroom.
The attacker, later identified as Davonte Johnson, was arrested soon after.
DuJuan Johnson said she won't be able to keep her wounded eye and can't drive, making it difficult for her to find work.
Throughout the ordeal, one thing kept racing through her mind.
"I have a child, and I can't stay in this bathroom," she said. "I can't die in this bathroom."
Davonte Johnson remains in jail without bond.
A GoFundMe page has been created to help pay for DuJuan Johnson's medical expenses.
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