Kayla Aakjer was coming home from a pool party Saturday afternoon when she says a man punched her multiple times at a red light on South Tamiami Trail and Shamrock Road.
“I was shaking, I was scared, I was thinking of every scenario... If he got in that car, what I would do to protect my son,” Aakjer said.
Aakjer said it all started when the man overheard her talking to her boyfriend in the car at the 7-11 gas station about how disrespectful the man was.
“He was outside his car screaming at a little girl in his backseat saying he was going to beat her when they got home. She was very young,” Aakjer said. She said she turned to her boyfriend, Bradley Davis, in the backseat and said, "He needs to calm down, that is ridiculous."
She said the man heard her say that and got out of the car.
Aakjer started rolling video on her cell phone. It captured the man punching her in the face and trying to knock the phone out of her hand. At last check, the video had more than 27,000 views. Aakjer said she thought her attacker was holding a pocket knife when he ran towards the car screaming obscenities.
Aakjer said she was scared for her five-month-old son Orion, who was in the back seat, and suddenly became the target of his threats.
“He said, ‘I will hit your son, I will make him shut up,’” Aakjer said.
Now, Aakjer worries what will happen if she sees the man again.
“That's my biggest fear. I can't even go to the gas station without being scared,” Aakjer said. “I just don't want this to happen to another family.”
-----
