Mother speaks out after car barely misses her and her children before crashing into Napa restaurant

Wayne Freedman Image
ByWayne Freedman KGO logo
Thursday, April 18, 2019
Mother speaks out after car barely misses her and her children before crashing into Napa restaurant
A mother was leaving a restaurant in Napa with her two children when a car misses hitting them by seconds. Now, she is telling her story.

NAPA, Calif. (KGO) -- A mother was leaving a restaurant in Napa with her two children when a car misses hitting them by seconds. Now, she describes the heart-stopping moment the car hit the restaurant.

Hugs are a universal language, especially useful when trying to process emotions that cannot be put into words, even though Yuliana Perez certainly tried.

"And I just opened the door..."

That's as far as she got before breaking into tears the first of many times.

VIDEO: 2 kids nearly hit by car that lost control, slammed into restaurant patio in Napa

By now, the surveillance camera video of what happened to Yuliana and her two small children outside the Villa Corona Restaurant has circled the world several times. After a car lost control and came right at them, she and her kids walked away.

"I couldn't believe it. I am alive and so lucky," she said. "I saw the car close to me but the way it was coming I could not run or anything else."

Napa Police describe the driver as a 60-year-old woman who says she hit the accelerator instead of the brake. Videos from other angles show her driving at excessive speed for what appears to be at least half a block.

"How fast was it going?" we asked. "Very fast," said Yuliana. "Like poom!"

Yuliana told her story to reporters once, so she would not have to do so again. She left five-year-old Oscar and three-year-old Danielle at home. She has no interest in them reviving the trauma.