Teen opens up about surviving 'intentional' crash in Sunnyvale

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ByWayne Freedman KGO logo
Thursday, April 25, 2019
Teen opens up about surviving 'intentional' crash in Sunnyvale
15-year-old Miguel Balbuena opens up about being injured along with seven others by a driver accused of intentionally plowing into them.

SUNNYVALE, Calif. (KGO) -- Chief Phan Ngo with the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety says the alleged driver in Tuesday night's accident has "not shown any remorse."

One of the eight people 34-year-old Isaiah Peoples injured in the possibly intentional incident was 15-year-old Miguel Balbuena.

He tells ABC7 News he was sitting on his bike when he heard a lady screaming, prompting him to look over and see the car coming straight toward him.

That gave him just enough time to make one quick move, one that potentially saved his life.

"I think if I didn't do that, I'd probably be in the hospital fighting for my life," Balbuena said.

RELATED: Sunnyvale police say suspect in 'deliberate' crash has no remorse

The driver is charged with attempted murder, something Miguel agrees with.

"Yes... He actually tried to kill somebody," he said.

Balbuena told ABC7 News why he is certain the driver was out to kill.

He explained that the driver accelerated toward the pedestrians and that he could have swerved out of the way because there weren't other cars around, but he headed directly at them.

RELATED: Here's what we know about Isaiah Peoples and the Sunnyvale car crash on El Camino

The situtation took another bizzare turn when Peoples got out of his car, and reportedly began repeating a thank you prayer to Jesus.

"He get out of the car, he started dealing 'thank you God for giving me this opportunity' and 'I love you Jesus' over and over again." Balbuena said.

"It just got me mad because I was like 'what opportunity are you talking about? The opportunity that you almost killed people?'"

RELATED: Family of Sunnyvale crash suspect says he was troubled vet with PTSD

Miguel doesn't believe PTSD is an excuse for the driver's behavior and that instead of out hurting people, he should be in therapy.

At the the end of all the chaos, a lesson was learned.

"You always need to live the day like its the last one because it can happen at any time. It was just three seconds, and he got eight people."