DAVIE, Fla. – Joann Pedro moved to Davie from Miami only a week ago. She said she had just finished a job interview on Tuesday and thought she’d stop at Walmart to pick up a few things.
When she pulled into the parking lot of the store at University Drive, just north of Griffin Road, she waited to pull into a space where another car was pulling out.
Pedro talked to Local 10 about the horrifying attack that happened next.
“I had been 6- or 7-minutes parked waiting for my parking space. There was an older man. I didn’t want to rush him to get into the car. As he pulled out, this Mercedes Benz came in and cut me off.”
Pedro said she did exchange words with the woman driving the Mercedes.
“I put down my window and I said, ‘I’ve been waiting here. Are you guys really going to take the parking space?’ "She said the driver started cursing at her. Pedro said she saw a spot a few spaces away and she was just going to move on and forget about the driver cutting her off.
“As I was parking, I heard a bottle hit the back of my car, so I called 911. I got out of the car with my wallet and my phone in my hand,” she said.
It was when she was trying to get the license plate number from the back of the car and talking to the emergency dispatcher on the phone when she was attacked.
Pedro said someone grabbed her by the hair and started punching her. The person that was first beating Pedro is believed to be the daughter of the woman who was driving. Then a man in a white T-shirt that can be seen in the video attacking her — that’s allegedly the driver’s son.
The mother gets involved, too, as she runs from the car and stomps on Pedro’s back while the woman is being pummeled on the ground.
Eventually all three get back into the Mercedes taking Pedro’s belongings and speeding off, dragging Pedro behind the car.
Pedro told Local 10 she is scared because she is a single mom with no family in the area. “They have my license, my house keys, they have my phone.”
The victim said she was hit with a bottle, so she has a bruise on the side of her head. “My neck and shoulders, they are all bruised.” And, Pedro said, they tried to rip a ring off her finger, so she has marks from that, and that she may have a fractured thumb. “My knees are all bloodied from the pavement where I was dragged.”
Pedro said that the mother told the son to pull the license plate from the car. “That’s what they were doing when I approached the vehicle.” Police said the move was intentional so that no one could take note of the license plate number.
Police believe the car is a silver Mercedes-Benz C300 and that the people inside were a mother and two adult children in their late teens to early 20s.
Davie police are hoping someone can help identify the family of attackers.
If you have any information, call Broward Crimestoppers at (954) 493-8477.