‘He wanted my heart’: Orlando Uber driver recovering from stabbing attack
Suspect still locked up in Orange County jail as sister raises concerns about his mental health
ORLANDO, Fla. —
In a WESH 2 News exclusive, the Uber driver stabbed on the job last week in Orlando is sharing his story of survival for the first time.
He asked to remain anonymous for his family’s safety as he speaks out ahead of an Orange County judge’s decision on whether the suspect stays behind bars until his trial for attempted second-degree murder.
Through a Spanish interpreter, the 36-year-old Uber driver explained only to WESH 2 how he fought off his attacker and what motivated him to stay alive.
He is still wearing bandages over the stab wound on his chest.
“It was seven times that he tried,” the victim said. “More than anything, he was looking for the specific area, which was the heart.”
The Uber driver still wearing bandages over the stab wound on his chest.
The morning of July 20, he had just dropped a woman off north of downtown Orlando when he said the suspect — later identified as Jovaughn Matthie — got in his car and asked for a ride.
“The man told me that he needed to go very quickly because he was late for work,” he said.
He recalled how a disagreement over directions led Matthie to pull out a knife.
“When I refused to take a different route, he raised his voice at me,” he said. “When he raised his voice at me, I stopped the car, and he stabbed me for the first time, telling me that he wanted my heart.”
The Uber driver said he got cuts on his hands from grabbing the blade.
“I can’t let myself die because I have to fight for my children,” he said. “At that moment, I was always thinking a lot about my children.”
After he turned the knife around, he said the attacker got out of the car.
“I took off my seat belt, locked the car, and he couldn’t get in,” he said.
He said he drove two more blocks before he flagged down a man walking his dog.
“He told me ‘Relax, relax,’ he calmed me down, he told me to stay there, that he wasn’t going to move away from me, and he called the police,” he said.
After Orlando police quickly arrived, he was able to give them a suspect description before an ambulance took him to the hospital.
It didn’t take long for officers to locate the suspect at a nearby IHOP on E. Colonial Drive.
“Got something long in this pocket. Yeah, I got a knife here,” officers are heard saying in the Orlando police body-camera video.
Matthie was back in court Friday and the judge is now appointing him a public defender.
Records show his sister wrote a letter to the judge raising concerns about his mental health.
“If he has a problem, I think they should not release him and he should not remain there, because if they release him, that person attacked me, and he could attack someone else,” the Uber driver said.
After five days in the hospital, he said he’s thankful to be home recovering.
He’s also reunited with his two teen children. They recently arrived in Florida.
“I don’t call it luck,” he said. “I think that was something from God.”
As for the victim, he told WESH 2 he may go back to work for Uber Eats, but he said he doesn’t plan to give rides anymore.
Matthie is still in the Orange County Jail. His pre-trial detention hearing has been rescheduled for next week.
If convicted, he could face up to 30 years in prison.