MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Dramatic video shows two would-be carjackers thwarted by an unlikely hero.
Police said two men tried to carjack a woman at the Exxon gas station in the 4400 block of Poplar Avenue on Saturday morning.
However, a fast-thinking MATA bus driver came to her rescue.
MATA said bus driver Rita Higgs was just driving her normal route Saturday morning when she pulled up next to an attempted carjacking in progress.
Surveillance video from the gas station is terrifying.
“They had, what appeared to be, a gun up to the lady,” Chuck White said. White was riding on the MATA bus Higgs was driving and witnessed the incident.
Police have not confirmed whether the men were armed, and you cannot tell from the surveillance video, but White said that is what he saw when the bus just happened to pull up next to the men. “She actually lets out a scream and tells us, ‘That woman is being robbed,'” he said of Higgs.
Surveillance video shows the men trying to break into an Exxon employee’s car first, but it was locked. So they ran up to the woman who was pumping gas.
Police said the woman’s car was a manual, and the would-be carjackers could not drive a stick shift.
“Criminals are not very smart anyways,” Exxon customer Edward Jordan said, laughing.
MATA said when Higgs saw what the men were doing, she lay on her horn to scare the men away.
Now many, including Higgs’ riders, are dubbing her a hero.
“It was just special that she was there at the right place at the right time and that she reacted as well as she did,” White said.
White hopes police will catch the men, and while the incident scared him, he said having a driver like Higgs makes him feel just a little safer.
“She’s great. She really is. It’s really special. That’s why I hope she gets some recognition for this.”
WREG tried to talk to Higgs on Saturday, but MATA will not allow her to speak with media until at least Monday due to company policy.
The video shows the men driving off in a maroon SUV.