One year after Kayky Brito was run over, driver still struggles to drive: ‘Trauma’

The life of app driver Diones Coelho da Silva, 42, changed radically after seeing actor Kayky Brito, 35, step in front of his car on an avenue in Barra da Tijuca (RJ), exactly one year ago. Even though he was not at fault for the accident, he says that since then he has not been able to get in his car to go to work as often as before the incident.

“I have traumas. Sometimes I go out to work and come home, see someone on the sidewalk and immediately feel a trigger, that tension. And that complicates things for me, because I have expenses and two teenage children,” he says. He lives in Rio de Janeiro and says he doesn’t care about those who don’t believe in his pain. “Others may judge it as victimhood, but I don’t need approval.”

If Diones’ routine as a driver used to be from Monday to Saturday, today he says he can work in the business from Thursday to Saturday, but with a shorter workload. He says that the visibility after the incident led to some extra work, such as private rides and partnerships with companies through social media, known as publis.

And it is these companies that have allowed him to maintain his income. But not every proposal is acceptable. “Some betting houses have approached me offering up to R$300,000 for me to advertise, but I always say no. Regardless of the amount, I don’t agree to it. If I didn’t think about others, I would have changed my life, but I prefer honesty,” he says.

According to him, these proposals arrived in the three months following the accident, a time when all the media were visiting his web profile in search of some statement about the case. Coelho says that more than 500 thousand people viewed his content in 24 hours. He went from having 132 followers on Instagram to more than 145 thousand.

“It’s hard to make a living from the internet alone, but I’m eager to get more advertising and good contracts in this field. What really helped was the online fundraiser they set up for me. With the money, I bought a car, sent money to my two children, paid a lawyer and made donations. Little by little, I’m building a better standard of living,” he says.

During this one-year period, Diones says that he did not have the opportunity to meet Kayky in person, due to the actor’s choice. Despite this, he claims that they have spoken to each other on social media. “I have already expressed my desire to see him, but he has not been open to that — and I understand. Everything is fine, the important thing is that he is alive and working. I am not upset,” he says.

Married for six years, Diones was considered a candidate for councilor in the 2024 elections. But after analyzing and discussing this possibility with his family, he decided to decline the invitation.

Regarding the future, he says he hopes to heal from the traumas he still carries and which he treats in therapy. “Before the accident, I always worked in healthcare and was not well-known. Of course, reality has changed, but I cannot create expectations for the future, as it causes anxiety. I want to live in the now and enjoy the present that God in heaven gives me. Life goes on.”