Carjacking suspect, 15, goes on mile-long rampage with victim clinging to hood
A 15-year-old girl was arrested Wednesday after allegedly carjacking a man, then driving recklessly for more than a mile as the victim clung to the hood of his car.
At about 10:30 p.m., the victim parked his Cadillac alongside Four Seasons Park near Turlock Junior High School, said Turlock police spokeswoman Deandra Wiley. Suddenly, two people, the 15-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy, approached his vehicle and began punching him through an open window, Wiley said.
They got the victim out of the vehicle and the girl got into the driver’s seat, Wiley said. The victim jumped onto the hood of the vehicle and the girl drove away, leaving behind the 17-year-old suspect, she said.
For more than a mile, the victim held on as the girl weaved through residential neighborhoods, hitting eight parked vehicles and a stop sign before spinning out in the 600 block of Gettysburg Street, Wiley said.
A home surveillance camera captured the moment the victim was flung from the hood as the vehicle backed up and flipped around. The man was lying on the ground and his head appeared to be just inches from the tires as the girl peeled out and took off again, leaving him in a cloud of smoke.
Jessica Rose, whose husband’s work truck was the last parked vehicle to be struck, spoke to the victim moments after he was thrown from the hood.
She said the man in his 50s was “bleeding and distraught.”
“His hand was lacerated, from holding on maybe,” she said. “He said he had pulled over at the park to make a phone call.”
She said police eventually took the victim to identify the suspects they had detained.
Wiley said a witness followed the girl as she drove west and parked in a lot between the In-N-Out and Safeway on Countryside Drive.
The 15-year-old girl was walking away from the vehicle as police approached and detained her without further incident, Wiley said.
The 17-year-old boy she was with was later found near the original carjacking scene at Four Seasons Park, Wiley said.
The girl was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, kidnapping, carjacking and felony vandalism. The boy was arrested on suspicion of carjacking.
This story was originally published January 23, 2020 at 1:01 PM.
