WFAA(MESQUITE, Texas) — A woman who barely survived a terrifying hit-and-run at a Texas gas station she owns has spoken out for the first time, saying that she suffers from intolerable pain but is glad to be alive.
“I don’t know what miracle saved me,” gas station owner Alka Patel told ABC News affiliate WFAA.
With multiplying medical bills and injuries from the collarbone down, Patel said she uses Indian prayer to get her through the pain, but she still feels trapped by her injuries.
“Somebody just put me in a cage, where I can’t even do anything,” Patel, who has been on bed rest since the incident on July 19, told WFAA.
Frightening surveillance videos show an SUV pulling out of a spot at the Kwik Fuel and Food gas station in Mesquite, Texas, and recklessly backing into Patel.
“All of a sudden, he just came so far back,” Patel said. “I didn’t think he was going to come that much.”
Earlier this month, police arrested suspect Jose Luis Ortiz Mendoza. He has been charged with felony hit and run, according to Mesquite Police Department officials.
Patel’s husband was killed at the same gas station, 17 years ago, when a white supremacist went on a shooting spree after 9/11.
She told WFAA that a miracle saved her and she’s thankful to her two children who have been supporting her.
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