Mom of 2 Dies Following Month-Long Coma After Man Allegedly Hit Her with Car

A woman in Brazil has died following a nearly month-long coma, during which both of her legs were amputated, after a man she knew allegedly struck her with a car and dragged her along a highway.

According to local outlets in São Paulo, 31-year-old Taynara Souza Santos, a mom of two, died on Wednesday, Dec. 24, after a man, identified by police as Douglas Alves da Silva, 26, allegedly hit her with his Volkswagen on the city’s north side after leaving a bar with friends in the early hours of Nov. 29.

CNN Brasil reported that the pair were acquaintances who had met several times before, and video footage of the incident led local police to identify Alves da Silva as the driver of the Volkswagen.

Footage of the incident obtained by CNN shows Santos walking down the street with a man on Nov. 29 at around 6 a.m. local time. The pair slowly walk out of view of the camera, and about 30 seconds later, Santos can be seen being dragged along the road by the car for hundreds of feet. She eventually ended up on the nearby Marginal Tietê highway.

Police located Alves da Silva on Nov. 30. During his arrest, he allegedly tried to grab a police officer’s gun and was shot, per a police report obtained by CNN.

In a statement to police, the passenger who was in Alves da Silva’s car said that he repeatedly asked him to stop the vehicle after the collision, and also warned the driver that Santos was under the car — but alleged that Alves da Silva continued to accelerate, per CNN.

Other witnesses also allegedly told police that the hit-and-run was intentional and claimed that it was motivated by jealousy, per Brazilian outlet UOL.

Santos was taken to Hospital das Clínicas at the University of São Paulo for her severe injuries, her family told the outlets. She underwent several surgeries, including leg amputations, an amputation in the thigh area for buttock reconstruction, a tracheostomy (a surgical procedure creating a hole in the neck into the windpipe to provide an airway) and reconstructive plastic surgery.

At one point, she came out of the coma, but her condition worsened after her final surgery, according to local outlet CBN.

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Santos, who was the mother of a 12-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl, died at around 7 p.m. on Christmas Eve, her family told the news outlets.

Alves da Silva was initially being investigated for attempted femicide, and the charge is set to be updated following the victim’s death.

“My only feeling towards him is anger,” Santos’ sister, Tatiana Souza Santos, told UOL on Dec. 3. “What he did makes no sense at all. He has no right to do this to anyone.”

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.