MIAMI, FL—Surveillance footage depicts 25-year-old Joshua James King beating 29-year-old Andrea Puerta on a Miami train, part of the city’s Metromover system operated by the Miami-Dade Transit on September 4.
A GoFundMe campaign aimed at raising funds for medical needs, legal help, and therapy for Andrea Puerta by a friend raised $9,654 as of 4:18 p.m. on Tuesday, September 22.
The description reads: “Andrea Puerta was attacked, without provocation, by a stranger in the metro mover in Miami. The man beat her over and over, breaking her ribs, blacking her eye and giving her a concussion before beating her nearly unconscious.”
Joshua, wearing a pink shirt walked into the train and looked around. He left the train and walked back in to assault Puerta who was sitting alone when Joshua began throwing punches.
Journalist Ray Ramos with Local 10, a Miami-based news agency, interviewed Puerta two weeks after the attack. “I remember that I closed my hands and I said, ‘Stop! Stop!,” Puerta said. “There was a moment when he said, ‘Sorry,’ and I looked at him and he punched me.”
Puerta was still suffering from a broken rib, a swollen jaw, a black eye and a bruised arm.
“She is still emotionally shaken,” Ramos said. “She says she has never seen this man before.”
Local 10 says surveillance showed her being punched over 20 times before she tried to escape. She was thrown head first into a chair. Joshua kicked her two times and followed up with four or more hand attacks before he walked around. Andrea can be seen leaving the train. She called 911 on her own.
Police say two other men were attacked on Miami public transportation that day. Local 10 reported police records indicated that the King was arrested and a case was filed two days later. He is facing three counts of aggravated battery charges.
King was released September 10 on a $1,500 bond and he is set to appear in Miami-Dade County Court on September 25.
The author of the GoFundMe campaign wrote a “thank you” to donors on September 21, 2020: “Thank you all for your generosity!! We are doing great with this initiative… Andrea is very touched and hopeful with this help!!”
