MIAMI, Fla. – Andrea Puerta, the dog walker who was on her way her home on the Miami Metromover when she was the victim of a horrific attack, tells Local 10 that since Sept. 4 her “life has changed completely.”
It has been 21 days since the 25-year-old was punched over 30 times by Joshua King and her face slammed into the hard seat of the train.
“Emotionally, I am destroyed,” she said. “I try to be strong with everybody, but every day I cry.”
She will no longer use public transportation, she won’t go out at night, she avoids strangers and she is unable to sleep, Puerta said.
Local 10 learned Friday that the Miami-Dade State Attorney has filed a motion to revoke King’s bond and keep him in custody.
King, from Tallahassee, is in a Delray Beach hospital after being Baker Acted.
After he was arrested, King, 25, was charged with aggravated battery — a bondable offense. Bond was set at $16,500, but he only needed to pay $1,500 to be let out.
Local 10 also learned that at the time of King’s first appearance hearing neither the judge nor the state attorney that was there had access to the video. That video surfaced after that appearance and it may have changed the outcome of the bond at that time.
There is another hearing on Wednesday to revoke King’s bond. If the bond is revoked, the State Attorney’s office would seek a pre-trial detention, where King would remain in custody.
Curt Obront, Puerta’s attorney, said that King should have never been let out in the first place.
“I personally believe they should increase the charges to attempted murder instead of aggravated battery,” Obront said. “We believe he wanted to kill her.”
She wasn’t the only one police believe was attacked by King. One man was thrown to the ground, kicked and punched, while another was punched in the face and has stitches under his eye.
Puerta said she has constant back and jaw pain. Her broken rib makes it difficult for her to go to work and she wonders if she will ever be happy again.
She told Local 10 that she needs to be strong. “It’s the only way I am gonna wake up every day and make this guy pay for what he did to me. He tried to kill me.”
Puerta said she doesn’t remember everything about the unprovoked attacked. “He said in a moment, ‘Sorry,’ and then when he said ‘Sorry,’ he punched me, and I lost consciousness. It was his way of saying ‘Sorry, I have to kill you.’ I want everyone to know his face,” she said about King.
“I want my eyes to be shiny again,” she said.
11 PM REPORT