Stephanie Oropeza was wearing a banana costume at 4 a.m. when an SUV tore through the patio of an Orlando bar, turning her drive home into a startling encounter. She called 911, and the internet soon handed the nursing student an unforgettable title: the “Banana Hero.”

Oropeza told NewsNation’s Jesse Weber on Tuesday that she and her fiancé were returning home from a Halloween party Saturday. During the drive, they noticed an SUV drifting against traffic and moving on the wrong side of the street.

“Look at that guy driving on the wrong side of the street,” her fiancé said, according to Oropeza. She said the warning came only about five seconds before the vehicle slammed into the bar.

The crash ripped through the patio at The Moderne, destroying tables, chairs, and a fence. The wreck caused at least $50,000 in reported damage, although nobody was hurt during the frightening incident.

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The driver remained at the scene and cooperated with police after the crash. The cause of the wreck remains unknown, leaving the dramatic sequence without a confirmed explanation.

Oropeza stayed on the telephone with 911 while also checking on the driver. She said the driver appeared stunned by what had happened after the SUV plowed into the bar’s outdoor area.

“I think he woke up shook, and he was just like, ‘oh, my gosh, what did I do?’” Oropeza said. She added that the driver may have mentioned falling asleep, but she was not certain about what she heard.

Amid the wreckage, emergency call, and concern for the driver, Oropeza was hardly thinking about her bright yellow outfit. The banana costume that would soon make her an internet character had slipped entirely from her mind.

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“I completely forgot,” she said. Her costume became a much bigger part of the story only after the bar released surveillance footage from the crash.

The Moderne posted that video while hoping to identify the mysterious person who had responded at the scene. Oropeza, meanwhile, searched for news about the wreck the following morning and found herself staring at a rather unusual top headline.

The headline had already given her the “Banana Hero” nickname. That discovery reminded Oropeza of the particularly memorable detail she had overlooked while handling the immediate aftermath of the crash.

“Then it all started coming back to me that I was even wearing the costume to begin with,” she said. The internet’s mystery rescuer was no longer just an unidentified witness in surveillance footage.

The bar showed its appreciation by giving Oropeza a free dinner. It also created a banana foster cocktail called “1-800-Bananas,” which Oropeza said was scheduled to launch Wednesday.

The costume itself will not be disappearing into the back of a closet after its unexpected moment in the spotlight. Oropeza said the banana outfit has now become connected to the way people recognize her.

“This is just a part of my identity,” she said. That new identity apparently comes with some unusual wardrobe planning whenever Oropeza gets into her car.

“Now I think I have to carry it in my car at all times because I never know who just wants to see me in the banana costume now.” For the nursing student who stopped after an SUV crashed into an Orlando bar, one Halloween outfit has become a lasting calling card.

The bizarre episode brought major property damage but no reported injuries. It also left The Moderne with a named cocktail, Oropeza with a free meal, and the internet with a banana-suited figure to celebrate.

What began with an SUV drifting against traffic ended with police cooperation, a search for a mystery rescuer, and a costume gaining new significance. Oropeza’s response at the scene made the banana impossible to forget, even if she initially did exactly that.

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