'The car smashed into me,' Hingham Apple store crash survivor skeptical of driver's explanation
WEYMOUTH -- 21-year-old Soni Baker is recovering at home Tuesday night after being released from Boston Medical Center. She is one of the almost two-dozen people who were injured after a car crashed into an Apple store in Hingham Monday.
The crash also killed 65-year-old Kevin Bradley, of New Jersey.
Baker told WBZ-TV she went to the Apple store with a friend who needed to get her iPhone fixed. She and her friend were sitting in the middle of the store; Baker had her back to the front door.
She doesn't remember much about what happened after the thunderous impact because she blacked out.
"I wasn't sure if there was a bomb, or I wasn't sure if we were being shot at, I was so confused," Baker said. "The car smashed into me. And I fell and hit my head. That's probably why I blacked out. I don't know what was over me. I don't know if it was God, but something was like 'nope,' something was like 'not right now.'"
Her leg broke in two places, she fractured several vertebrae, and doctors said she has a minor brain bleed. Her friend is still in the hospital.
"Anything bad can happen to anyone and it's like to me, I'm not going to let this situation hold me back," Baker said.
Bradley Rein, the driver in the deadly crash at an Apple store in Hingham, is now charged with reckless homicide by motor vehicle and reckless operation of a motor vehicle. According to prosecutors, Rein told investigators he was looking for an eyeglass store when his right foot became stuck on the accelerator of his Toyota 4Runner. He said he used his left foot to try to brake, but was unable to stop.
Baker told WBZ-TV that she's heard Rein's explanation and is skeptical.
"I truly believe that we were all lucky in that it could have been a lot, lot worse," said Baker. "You should really appreciate life and the people in your life."
Baker's mother said her daughter is tough. "Bad things happen to good people and you have to overcome them and she's going to," said Jenn Wade Baker.
