MIAMI – Lexi Gaddy and her mother, Julie Crawford, went on an Uber ride in an Acura TSX on Monday that they said they'll never forget.
The Uber driver was approaching a stop light at Southwest Fourth Avenue, between Seventh and Eighth streets, when gobs of wet concrete started to fall from a building in Miami's Little Havana.
"We just heard a huge crash and felt stuff all over us," Crawford said.
Gaddy didn't know if that was the beginning of a building collapse, so she told her mom to jump out of the car. Concrete splattered on their shoes and hair and filled a small purse.
"In the moment, I was freaked out as we were driving because I thought, 'Is there going to be more coming out at us?' So I said, 'Unlock the door. We're going to jump out of the car,'" Gaddy recalled.
The driver said he has been working with Uber customers for about four years. He was too shaken to talk about his damaged car. Gaddy and Crawford said they want answers from SFCS, a Hialeah-based construction company.
A Miami public service aide gave them the name of the company, saying a cylinder form designed for pouring concrete appeared to have collapsed on the 13th floor of the building. A sign at the site lists the BecGroup Services, of Coral Gables, as the general contractor.
"Coming soon. Mega Center Self Storage and Office Suites," a sign on the fence of the construction site read.
SFCS Operations Manager Enrique J. Hernandez told Local 10 News in a statement that "during a pour of columns at High Roof, one of the column forms, which is a sonotube -- basically a cardboard round form -- failed due to the persistent rain while we were in the pouring process."
Hernandez said the wet concrete spilled over netting that was installed on the ninth floor.
He said a supervisor was present during the incident and one is always present at the jobsite.
Carly Debeikes, a spokeswoman for Uber, released a statement Tuesday night.
"We have been in touch with all parties involved in the accident to check on their well being and are thankful no one was injured," Debeikes wrote.
Just last week, several parked cars outside of a Wells Fargo branch were blanketed by spilled concrete at a construction site on Alton Road, between Lincoln Road and 16th Street, in Miami Beach.
Gaddy said she just moved to South Florida. She is shaken but grateful to be alive.
"We're fine," she said. "It's just a crazy story to tell."