FORT WORTH, Texas – A 77-year-old Fort Worth woman who uses a wheelchair dragged herself across broken glass to escape her home after a man broke in and repeatedly beat her on Monday night, the police and the victim tell FOX 4.
Intruder identified after forced entry
What we know:
Fort Worth police identified the suspect as 21-year-old Cristian Mendez, who is accused of forcing his way into two homes before attacking June Gruebel in her living room.Â
Mendez was later arrested and charged with burglary and attempting to take an officer’s weapon, police said.
Victim recounts brutal attack
What they’re saying:
Gruebel said she was asleep when she heard banging coming from her neighbor’s home and then her own. Her daughter-in-law had accidentally left the front door unlocked, she said.
Gruebel, who cannot stand or walk, said Mendez knocked her to the floor and began striking her.
“He’s busting through the door,” Gruebel recalled. “I kept screaming, ‘Help me! Help me!’ I screamed as loud as I could.”
“I couldn’t get up, and he kept knocking stuff on me,” she said. “My two kitchen chairs… he hit me with them over the head. Then he took my table and threw it on me.”
She said the assault continued as Mendez punched and stomped on her and threw frozen food from her refrigerator at her.
Gruebel said she asked the man what he wanted, but “the more I asked him, the more he found to throw at me.”
She then dragged herself across the floor toward the doorway after realizing she might not survive unless she escapes.
“I had to get out,” she said. “If I cut myself, it was all good as long as I was out.”
Neighbor calls police, saw victim crawling 
Local perspective:
Outside the home, a neighbor noticed Mendez behaving erratically.
“He started throwing patio furniture around, and I knew he was up to no good, so I called the police,” the neighbor said.
Gruebel crawled through scattered glass and managed to get outside, where the neighbor saw her.
“She was crawling out her door on her hands and knees, dragging herself out,” he said.
The neighbor said he believes the outcome could have been far worse if he hadn’t called police.
“Oh yeah,” he said when asked whether the situation might have been fatal. “He might have killed her on his way.”
Vow to ‘keep fighting’ 
Dig deeper:
Gruebel, still covered in deep purple and blue bruises across her back, said she prayed throughout the attack.
“I hurt,” she said. “I hurt bad.”
Even while recovering from significant injuries, Gruebel found moments of levity, noting that a jar of mayonnaise Mendez threw at her had missed. “The Hellman’s mayonnaise missed me over there by the window,” she said with a laugh.
What’s next:
Despite the trauma, she said she intends to keep fighting.
“I can’t fight back like I used to, but I’m going to fight any way I can,” Gruebel said.
Police said Mendez resisted arrest and attempted to grab an officer’s weapon before he was taken into custody.Â
Mendez remains in jail on Wednesday.
The Source: Information in this article was provided by FOX 4’s Vania Castillo.