The principal of a school in Rio de Janeiro was dragged through the street after she asked a driver to move away from a school parking lot.
Surveillance footage from June 18 was released to the public for the first time on Thursday, showing the driver of an SUV parked on the school lawn before Raquel Schwab walks over it.
The driver puts the car in reverse and stops briefly while Schwab talks to the woman behind the wheel about parking rules.
You see the director talking to the woman for about 45 seconds before she slowly retreats.
The driver accelerates while Schwab holds on to the door with her hand in the window and is nearly struck by a vehicle coming from the other lane.
Rio de Janeiro school principal Raquel Schwab approached the driver of an SUV to tell her she wasn’t allowed to park on the school sidewalk, just before the driver sped off and dragged Schwab off the street
Rio de Janeiro school principal Raquel Schwab said she twice asked the driver to move and was ignored before approaching her and being dragged across the road and falling to the ground.
She then collapses to the ground as her husband runs to help her, somehow also preventing the driver from escaping.
Schwab told the Brazilian news agency G1 that she asked the driver to leave, but decided to ignore her request.
“I spoke to her twice from the backyard and she acted like she couldn’t hear me, so I left,” she explained. “She seemed nervous and rolled the window down partway. I went in front of her and put my hand on the window.”
To avoid being hit by the oncoming car and falling to the ground, Schwab tried to move her feet to match the pace of the car.
“Instead of slowing down, she sped up. It was a shocking situation for those who witnessed it,” she said.
Brazilian school principal Raquel Schwab suffered multiple bruises after being dragged by a driver she had asked not to park on the school sidewalk
The school principal was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she received stitches for a head wound and was diagnosed with a fractured foot
Schwab hit her head on the ground and briefly lost consciousness.
She was rushed to Evander Freire Hospital, where she was treated for a broken foot. She also had visible bruising on her body and required multiple stitches on her head.
The incident prevented Schwab from performing her key duties for several weeks.
“Even though I was worried about what could happen, I had to go back. At no point did she (the driver) worry or ask how I was doing,” she said.
‘It was a trauma for me and my family. I couldn’t even shower on my own and I still have trouble moving.’