Felyz Rodriguez and Davin Lopez are speaking out after a road-rage confrontation in northwest Miami-Dade left them bruised, pepper-sprayed and questioning whether they were targeted because Rodriguez is transgender.
The couple, who had briefly stepped off the sidewalk and into the street while walking to work last Sunday, said two women in a car became enraged at their presence in the road. Rodriguez, who recorded portions of the incident on her phone, said Miami that the encounter quickly spiraled beyond any proportion to the moment.
“They were like, guys, get out of the road, idiots,” Lopez said, recounting the initial exchange.
Lopez acknowledged that he responded with a hand gesture after the women yelled at them, a move that prompted the driver to abruptly turn the car around and speed back toward the couple. Rodriguez began filming as Lopez walked toward the vehicle, demanding to know why they were being harassed.
“Why the f–k y’all bothering us,” Lopez can be heard saying in the footage.
What followed, the couple said, was a physical assault launched by both women after they exited the car.
“Next thing you know, one gets out and starts pepper spraying me,” Lopez said.
The pepper spray can be heard hissing from its canister in Rodriguez’s video as she simultaneously worked to capture the car’s license plate. A separate recording made by a nearby resident, who was on the phone with authorities, captured the violence as it escalated at a street corner.
“There is a girl in a car trying to run over a guy at the corner of my house,” the resident told dispatchers.
Rodriguez said she made deliberate efforts to avoid escalating the physical confrontation even as one of the attackers grabbed her hair and yanked her toward the open driver’s side door.
“She yanks me, I’m trying my best to not put my hands on anybody because, instead, of trying to make it worse I’m trying to de-escalate it,” Rodriguez said.
The situation turned more dangerous when the second woman climbed into the driver’s seat and reversed the vehicle while Rodriguez remained caught in the doorway. Video shows Rodriguez being flung to the pavement as the car pulled backward.
“Oh my god! Oh my god!” the resident recording the scene screamed.
Investigators said both Rodriguez and Lopez sustained bruises, cuts and swelling from the attack. The two women fled the scene and had not been apprehended as of the couple’s statements to the outlet.
Rodriguez said the entire episode left her shaken and searching for explanation.
“It was all unprovoked; we’re just walking,” she said.
The emotional toll, she added, has compounded in the days since.
“It’s just sad, honestly, just thinking about it, it confuses me, I’m confused, I’m distraught, I’m just traumatized at this point honestly,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez raised the possibility that the assault may have been motivated by bias against her identity as a transgender woman.
“Is it a hate crime, is it something personal, or is it simply you have nothing to do?” she asked.
Lopez took to Facebook on Monday to press for accountability, writing that “hopefully they are able to catch these females for causing us distress and emotional/physical damage.”
“People like this who think it’s okay to just antagonize, provoke and ATTACK ANYONE just out of boredom should pay serious consequences… and we gonna make sure of it,” he wrote.
The driver was described as wearing bright green booty shorts during the incident, a detail visible in footage shared online. The couple’s videos and the bystander recording have circulated widely, drawing attention to the case as authorities continue searching for the suspects.
The assault occurred as Rodriguez and Lopez were simply trying to reach their workplace, a routine walk that turned violent over what began as a momentary departure from the sidewalk. The couple has indicated they intend to pursue consequences for their attackers.
Miami-Dade authorities have not announced arrests in the case.