An 8-year-old girl who was struck by a hit-and-run driver as she was walking to school in Hallandale Beach recounted the scary moments a car ran her over.
The girl, Nahriya, said she usually walks to school with her friend but the friend was sick on Monday. She said she crossed the street to throw something away when she was hit.
"I was close to the trash can and then the car came and hit me in the leg and I just went flying and hit this arm," the girl told NBC6 on Tuesday.
Berdy Lubin, 37, was arrested on charges of failure to remain at the scene of a crash causing serious injury and habitual driving with a license suspended in Monday's incident.
Get South Florida local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC South Florida newsletters.
According to Hallandale Beach Police, the girl was struck in the 800 block of Southwest 3rd Street near Gulfstream Academy.
Witnesses told police that a black Mercedes struck the child, who was walking to school, while traveling east on the roadway. Surveillance footage showed the car slamming into the girl.
Local
The child was rushed to Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital in serious but stable condition, police said. She had a broken arm and some scrapes.
Lubin got out of the car, picked the girl up and even held her at one point but then left the scene, police said. He was later taken into custody.
"I just remember him picking me up and putting me down, I didn't remember him leaving or anything, but everybody was surrounding me so I couldn't see him leaving," Nahriya said.
Lubin was driving his own child to school at the time of the incident, police said.
Police described Lubin as a habitual traffic offender and during Tuesday's bond court appearance, prosecutors said he had a suspended license and several other traffic infractions on his record.
"He didn't care, he didn't care about my child, he hit her and instead of staying, for whatever reason he felt like he had to flee, he didn't stay, he just moved my daughter out the way like she was in the way of him getting away," Nahriya's mother said. "How do you have all these traffic offenses and you're still driving?"
During Tuesday's court appearance, Lubin was given a $25,000 bond but prohibited from driving.
