SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WXYZ) — A carjacking victim is opening up about her horrific experience and how she got away after being terrorized in her own car at a Southfield strip mall.
The victim says she only dropped her guard for a split second, thankfully Royal Oak police say they've caught the man responsible.
“He said he just robbed a bank and wasn’t going to hurt me,” said Lina Radin.
She had taken a trip to the strip mall to pick up a carryout meal in the area of 10 Mile Road and Southfield Freeway. After returning to her car, she dropped a face mask and says when she opened her door back up a man forced his way in and demanded the vehicle.
“My back was up against the passenger door and he had my left arm. I was trying hard to open up the back door behind me,” Radin said.
From there, she says she managed to tel the carjacker her purse was under the driver's seat, distracting him for a moment as she got out of the car.
"(It was) fight or flight, survival mode," she said.
From there she was as he drove away on the evening of Dec. 18. Police say hours later, early the next day, they found the suspect in the Saab sedan neat 14 Mile and Coolidge. There was a high-speed police pursuit through several communities and a foot chase leading to the arrest of 57-year-old Andre Jacobs in Beverly Hills.
Police say he's a career criminal who thought he could get away and preyed on an innocent victim.
“You never think it’s going to happen to you,” Radin said.
