A woman lost her legs after she was mowed down by her ex-boyfriend, and her body was dragged along the roadway after an argument. The shocking incident unfolded along the Marginal Tietê highway in São Paulo, Brazil, on November 29.
The victim, identified as 31-year-old Tainara Souza Santos, was out on Saturday morning when she encountered her former partner, Douglas Alves da Silva. According to police documents and witness statements, the two had a past relationship, something Douglas later denied. A friend of his, however, told investigators that this was not true. “He was distraught,” said Kauan Silva Bezerra, who was with him that morning and described the moments leading up to the hit-and-run.
Kauan explained that he and Douglas had been at a bar when they noticed Tainara there with another man. Douglas reportedly became jealous and angry, causing a confrontation to ensue. Kauan said tensions escalated rapidly, and although he and Douglas drove off, Douglas suddenly turned the car around and accelerated toward Tainara.
Kauan was sitting in the passenger seat when the incident happened, and he told officers he “didn’t even have time to react.” He eventually reacted when Douglas reportedly pulled the handbrake and applied more pressure on the vehicle immediately after striking her down. Kauan said he believed that it was an attempt to kill her, and when he tried to stop him, he realised that Douglas was overwhelmed and not thinking clearly.
Douglas, however, later gave a very different version. In a video recorded after his arrest, he insisted he did not know the woman and claimed the real target was the man she had been speaking with. He said the encounter started with a dispute inside the venue and escalated when that man allegedly threatened him. “I went to run him over, not her,” he stated, calling the information circulating online “a lie”.
However, Kauan again contradicted him, telling police that Douglas and Tainara had been talking earlier at the bar and that the situation only worsened when jealousy entered the conversation. Tainara was dragged for nearly a kilometre, according to witness accounts and video recordings.
Surveillance footage obtained by CNN Brazil shows the moments leading up to the impact, followed by another video capturing the vehicle continuing along the road with the victim trapped beneath it. Tainara was rescued in critical condition and taken to the Vereador José Storopolli Municipal Hospital, where doctors were forced to amputate both her legs to save her life. She remains hospitalised but in stable condition.