Woman waiting for bus recalls crash

Witnesses blame crash on Miami-Dade County Transit Department pickup truck driver

MIAMI – A woman recalled a multi-vehicle crash that injured her and her husband as they waited for the bus.

"It was terrible, terrible, terrible. I don't want to remember," said 56-year-old Nancy Sanchez, who broke her leg (pictured right). "I have a lot of pain."

Sanchez and her 62-year-old husband Francisco were standing at the corner of W. Flagler Street and 42nd Avenue in Miami when the crash happened Wednesday morning.

"We saw that car was coming to us. We did not have time to move or anything," she said. "We never had time to move because I was planning to run."

Witnesses said Alfredo Menendez, the driver of a Miami-Dade County Transit Department pickup truck, never braked before slamming into six other vehicles, sending them into three people waiting for the bus.

Sanchez's husband suffered two broken legs. She said he underwent surgery late Wednesday.

The couple travelled to South Florida from Jamaica to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. She said he took the brunt of the blow as the cars careened toward them.

"I called to my husband, 'Are you alive?' and he said, 'Yes, I am alive,'" Sanchez recalled.

The third pedestrian, 78-year-old Transito Lopez, had his leg severed.

"He (Lopez) was saying, 'Help!, Help! Help!' It was just terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible," said Sanchez.

Records show Menendez, a 10-year county employee, had been involved in eight crashes before Wednesday's; four were considered non-preventable and the others were considered preventable.

A county spokesperson said Menendez will be on medical leave and then administrative leave while the crash is investigated.