A rideshare driver suffered minor injuries while trying to stop a would-be carjacker from stealing her vehicle in the San Gabriel Valley – and the entire ordeal was captured on video.
It unfolded at a Valero gas station parking lot in West Covina, east of Los Angeles, on Jan. 27. The Uber driver told police that a man on a bicycle approached her and asked for a ride.
“After initially declining, the victim agreed to drop the suspect off at a nearby location,” West Covina police said in a social media post.
As the Uber driver was putting the bike in her trunk, the suspect jumped into the driver’s seat, security camera footage shows. After a brief struggle, the suspect sped away with the victim on top of him and the car door open.
“The suspect threatened to crash if the victim didn’t exit,” police said. That’s precisely what happened seconds later.
Another camera angle shows the vehicle pulling out of the parking lot and slamming into a utility pole, at which point the suspect ran away.
Officers searched the area and found the suspect at a nearby car dealership, where he was taken into custody, police body camera video showed.
The rideshare driver sustained minor injuries, police told KTLA’s Erin Myers. A GoFundMe page created to help the victim, Casslie Scott, can be found here.
The suspect was booked on charges of carjacking, kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon.
