GOOD SAMARITAN FOILS CAR, BABY HIJACKING
Posted June 12 2002, 12:02 AM EDT
By Jose Dante Parra Herrera
Sun-Sentinel
FORT LAUDERDALE -- In the end, a mother sat in the back of a minivan, hugging her baby, whom she had not seen for about 10 minutes, yet it seemed like an eternity.
About 8:30 p.m., the woman, whom police did not identify, parked her car at a convenience store on the 1500 block of West Sunrise Boulevard to use a pay phone, when an armed man approached her, said Detective Mike Reed, a Fort Lauderdale police spokesman.
The man pointed a revolver at her, took her keys and drove away in her black Pontiac Grand Am with her 9-month-old baby in the back seat. Louis Armstrong, who witnessed the carjacking, gave chase as he called the police on his cellphone. "The lady was on the ground and the car took off," Armstrong said. "The woman asked if I could I tell if there was a baby in the car."
As a light rain fell, Armstrong chased the man onto northbound Interstate 95. The suspect exited on Oakland Park Boulevard and sped west, but when he got to Powerline Road, he bailed out and ran.
Armstrong rushed to the Grand Am, registered to Maria Blackshire, of Fort Lauderdale.
When police arrived and an officer saw Armstrong standing next to the car, the officer handcuffed him.
"They threw me face down in the water, put handcuffs on me before I could tell them I'm on the phone with the baby's mom," Armstrong said, after he was uncuffed and released.
Reed said officers initially did not know who was who. They had a vague description of the suspect and the suspect was reportedly armed, Reed said. "Responding officers are going to secure everyone. We don't want the vehicle or anyone to leave."
Soon after, the mother arrived and was reunited with her baby. Police put the mother and child inside a Dodge minivan and whisked them away.
Late Tuesday, police were still looking for the suspect.
Copyright © 2002, South Florida Sun-Sentinel