WESH Reporter Talks About August's Near-Fatal Car Crash

WESH morning reporter Paola Tristan Arruda said she is lucky to be alive after a car crash in August. Nearly nine months later, Tristan Arruda talked about the crash. According to Florida Highway Patrol, the driver that hit Tristan Arruda's car ran a red light on the eastbound exit ramp from I-4 to Lee Road. The impact was so hard that she was thrown into the back seat of the vehicle, despite wearing her seat belt. "I don't remember getting into my friend's car, I don't remember going to McDonald's, and I certainly don't remember the accident," Tristan Arruda said. "Traffic is really bad in Orlando, and our roads are overcrowded. We have a ton of visitors. Quite often, people don't know where they are going, they are not paying attention because they are on their cell phones," said her doctor, Dr. Howard Smith Tristan-Arruda broke her arm and hip in the crash, dislocated one of her elbows, fractured her wrist, fingers and a portion of her spine, and also had a head injury and a number of internal injuries. "I never thought that something like this would happen to me, and it sounds so cliche, you hear people say it all the time," Tristan Arruda said. "One split decision that was to no fault of my own, I could have lost my life because someone made a decision to run a red light, to be distracted." She returned to work at WESH in December, nearly four months after the crash. The driver who hit Tristan Arruda was not hurt and was cited by the Florida Highway Patrol for running a red light, driving with a suspended license and having no proof of insurance. "I'm grateful to be alive, I'm grateful to have the support that I had. It's going to be a long time until I feel 100% myself," Tristan Arruda said.