POMPANO BEACH, Fla. – Chaos unfolded at a Pompano Beach park last week after a driver was accused of slamming her car into a woman and a child.
That driver took down a portion of a gate before driving into a playground and hitting a grandmother and her 3-year-old grandson.
“You see those kids running and screaming for their lives,” said that grandmother, Chaunda McCleod.
She told Local 10 News she saw a group arguing at Pompano Beach Community Park.
“They were on the other side and it was a fight, so we started to get all of the kids to get them out of the park, because we saw the situation was getting worse and worse,” McCleod explained.
Phedeline St. Felix was behind the wheel of the vehicle that hit McCleod. She said she went to the park to settle an argument with another woman, and she got emotional.
“I was attempting to run her over, but then I see someone put her out of the way,” St. Felix said.
Instead, McCleod said St. Felix came barreling towards her and her grandson, knocking down a gate in the process, and driving into the park where kids were playing.
“I was just running to my grand baby,” McCleod said. “Had I not picked him up, she would have ran completely over him and he would have been under the car. As I’m picking him up, she’s just hitting us both and we just went flying over the car and finally we hit the ground.”
St. Felix said she simply lost control of the car.
“I was trying to find the brakes,” she said “I couldn’t find the brakes. I didn’t mean to hit them, it was an accident and I hope they are ok.”
St. Felix was arrested and appeared in bond court over the weekend. McCleod is thankful that she and her grandson are physically okay.
“I was upset, I was very upset,” McCleod said. “At the end of the day, we have to move on and we have to forgive.”
A judge ruled that St. Felix is not allowed to have any contact with the victims.
McCloud’s grandson sustained injuries to his leg, and grandma received some staples. She told Local 10 News that her grandson doesn’t even want to go to the park anymore.