She is the scar of a spiraling subway crime.
After 16 surgeries and more than a year after a deranged stranger threw sulfuric acid in her face at a Brooklyn train station, Juanita Jimenez is still healing inside and out.
A random act of traffic violence changed her life forever. And now, with subway crime up nearly 20% so far this year, she’s speaking out about how more officers and mental health resources are needed to bring safety and sanity back to the tracks. There is.
“I always thought this couldn’t happen to me. I’m such a good person that this couldn’t happen to me…”[but] It really can be anyone. We didn’t get into an argument, she didn’t know her, she didn’t have anything with her, but it still happened,” said Jimenez, 22.
Her horror happened on Dec. 2, 2022, at the Winthrop Street 2/5 station, as Jimenez got off the southbound No. 2 train on her way to her job as a personal care assistant at Kings County Hospital. .
Police say the disenfranchised woman, later identified as Rodrin Gravesande, suddenly threw sulfuric acid in her face without saying anything.
“You can tell people to stay safe, but even if you’re minding your job and trying to stay safe, things like this can still happen. That’s why mental health is important. It’s very important for everyone,” Jimenez said. “In most cases, abusers and batterers are people with mental health or disabilities.”
Jimenez saw Gravezande, 34, of Brooklyn, swearing and flailing his arms on the subway, and took video of the crazed stranger before the attack.
“I had a gut feeling that something was wrong,” she said. “But I never expected anything to happen to me.”
“I immediately felt the pain. My face felt like it was on fire,” she recalled. “I thought it was poisonous.
“I was panicking and just crying because I couldn’t understand why it was happening to me. It was just a roller coaster of emotions at the time,” said Jimenez, who spent a week in the burn unit at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx. Told.
The Harlem native suffered third-degree burns to the entire left side of her face, with her left nostril and part of her lip destroyed.
“I can’t work, I can’t leave the house… Everywhere I go, people are like, ‘Oh my god, what happened?’ Because my story is on my face.” said Jimenez.
Sources said Gravezande was arrested in Brownsville in 2014 for domestic violence against her child’s father, but was arrested in Atlanta, Georgia, about a month after the incident and has since posted $250,000 bail. He is being held at Rikers Island Jail on bond. She maintained her innocence.
“I think that’s at least 10 years of what she’s facing. . . . But in 10 years, I’ll still have the surgery, I’ll still have the PTSD, and she’ll be free, right?” I don’t think so,” Jimenez said.
“If there is literal evidence that a person has committed a heinous crime, I don’t think that person should be released from prison. It will be the same thing again,” she added. Cut through the politicians who enable criminals and reform soft bail reform laws for crimes that perpetuate cycles of violence.
“They know that [the subway] It’s dangerous and we need police to keep us safe. ”
And it’s also important to have more police officers at each station during a time of high crime, she continued.
Jimenez had to quit her job as a personal care assistant at Kings County Hospital, but she said the incident “may have really triggered” her PTSD. And 16 procedures to repair her damage accumulated more than $60,000 in medical debt. her face.
But she is undaunted.
She continued to pursue a college degree, started a tattoo business, and connected with other burn and assault survivors through TikTok, where she posts videos documenting her journey to recovery for her nearly 15,000 followers. There is.
“I finally got my confidence back after surviving an acid attack,” she captioned the Feb. 7 video, which shows a series of photos and videos of her face since the horrific incident.
Another video from February 6 shows Jimenez, with medical gauze wrapped around his face, saying “scrat” (slang for running away from something) as hospital staff push his wheelchair. ing. She captioned the clip, “When you don’t take anything seriously.”
She found her saving grace in this way tick tock: Los Angeles-based plastic surgeon Dr. Carl Truesdale contacted me in November after seeing his videos about facial reconstruction on the platform.
During her counseling appointment, Truesdale, who runs a foundation that provides free reconstructive surgery, offered to perform the remaining facial surgeries for free.
On January 22, Jimenez was stabbed for the first time and underwent nose and lip reconstruction and skin grafts.
“When we met [Jimenez]I really loved her story…and I was really happy to be able to do this for her,” said Truesdale.
“I’m so grateful to Dr. Truesdale,” Jimenez said, adding that he is recovering “very well” after undergoing the latest treatment.
More to come. “We don’t really know how many people are left, it just depends on what happens to them,” she said.
But Jimenez vowed to stay strong and encourage other victims along the way.
“I want to show people who have experienced trauma that there is more to it than that trauma,” she said.
Additional reporting by Tina Moore.
