82-year-old woman hospitalized after car crashes into Boyle Heights restaurant

An 82-year-old woman is facing a lifetime of recovery after a suspected DUI driver crashed into diners outside a neighborhood restaurant in Boyle Heights. 

Cristina Vargas, 82, and her daughter were eating lunch outside Los Cinco Puntos Mexican Deli when a car jumped the curb and slammed into the outdoor dining area. Gabriela Vargas, her daughter, said the pair were praying before eating when the crash happened. 

"I just hear this like screeching," Gabriela said. "I look up, and I just see a bumper and tires, and I just flew. I just flew."

The collision seriously injured three people, including the mother and daughter. Gabriela said her mother was on the floor screaming "my legs, my legs" in Spanish after the crash.

"I have lacerations on my head, my left and right side," she said. "Her legs were just pinned and just shredded."

Gabriela said her mother has always been fiercely independent. 

"She's very social," she said. "She g oes to the senior center. She goes to the little church bingo club. She loves to go to the theater. She loves to dance."

Now resting in a hospital bed, Gabriela said her mother's spirit hasn't been broken. With her Virgencita de Guadalupe by her side and her family's support, Cristina said she's thankful to be alive. However, she knows the road to full recovery will be long.

Her family created an online fundraiser to help with her recovery. 

"If you can just support her so I can give her the best quality of life immediately after," Gabriela said. 

Gabriela hopes her mother's story makes the intersection safer. 

"It may have cost my mom her legs, but there's going to be change in that intersection," Gabriela said. "My mom's going to save a lot of lives."