A tragic incident unfolded in Brazil as a mother of two passed away on Christmas Eve following a month-long coma. This coma resulted from a horrific event where she was run over and dragged by a car driven by a man she had briefly dated.
Taynara Souza Santos, aged 31, succumbed to her injuries around 7 p.m. on December 24 at the Hospital das Clinicas. The tragedy began when a Volkswagen Golf struck her in São Paulo on November 29.
The driver, 26-year-old Douglas Alves da Silva, allegedly hit Santos and dragged her over a significant distance. This appalling act resulted in the amputation of her legs and left her in a coma for almost a month.
Following his arrest on November 30, Silva has been held in custody, facing investigation for attempted femicide. During his arrest, he was shot after allegedly trying to seize an officer’s firearm.
According to CNN Brasil, Santos and Silva were familiar with each other, having met on several occasions prior to the incident.
The Daily Mail shared disturbing footage capturing Santos exiting a bar at 6 a.m., just moments before the unthinkable event occurred.
Santos can be seen outside wearing a black dress with a man before stepping out of frame.
About 30 seconds later, the black Volkswagen can be seen striking the mother as she bashed on to the hood and then falls onto the road.
Taynara Souza Santos, 31, died after being in a coma for nearly a month caused by being struck and dragged by a car
Douglas Alves da Silva, 26, allegedly hit and dragged Santos for hundreds of feet. The alleged driver reportedly had a brief relationship with the mother of two
She ends up lying in front of the front right tire before the car begins to accelerate, running her over and then trapping her underneath the vehicle.
The car continues to drive forward with the victim still underneath the vehicle. A few moments later, a man could be seen chasing and waving to get others’ attention.
The footage then cuts to another angle of the mother being dragged down the road with what appears to be half her body hanging from the rear.
The second angle of footage shows her being dragged for at least 10 seconds.
A passenger who was in the car that struck the mother wrote in a statement to police that he repeatedly asked Silva to stop the vehicle and also warned the driver that the mother was under the car, as cited by CNN.
The mother underwent several surgeries and needed her legs to be amputated
Letícia Conceição, a friend of Santos, claimed that the suspect was waiting outside the bar after he went inside and punched a man ‘out of jealousy’, according to G1.
After Santos had allegedly argued with Silva, who then waited outside, before he allegedly got inside his car and struck her.
Santos underwent several surgeries all over her body, which included an amputation in the thigh area as well as a tracheostomy. While she did awake from the coma at one point, her condition worsened following her last surgery, according to CBN.
She died, leaving behind a seven-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son.
‘My only feeling towards him is anger,’ Santos’ sister, Tatiana Souza Santos, told UOL.
‘What he did makes no sense at all. He has no right to do this to anyone.’
Santos’s mother, Lucia, posted to Instagram following her daughter’s death: ‘Hello, my loved ones, good night. It is with great sorrow that I have to announce that our ‘little warrior’ Tay has left us.’
‘She has passed away, and I thank you for all the messages of prayer, affection, and love that you have shown me and my daughter. She has just left this cruel world and is with God. It is an enormous pain, but the suffering is over, and now it is time to ask for justice.’
The investigation of attempted femicide is expected to be updated following the mother’s death.
