MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — A major fail for a would-be carjacker after he steals a car at gunpoint in an East Memphis driveway and then crashes it a few feet away.
The 22-year-old victim watched as the carjacker backed into a utility pole and got stuck.
The victim’s mother, who didn’t want to be identified, said she and her husband pulled into their driveway on Reese moments after the carjacking and crash. She said the carjacker was forced to leave the 2006 Honda Element behind and ran off.
“The way the driveway dips down, the back wheel lifted off the driveway, and he couldn’t get it unstuck. It took three of us to push the car out,” she said.
The victim’s mom said her son pulled into their driveway at around 8:30 p.m. Friday when a man opened his car door, pointed a gun at him, and told him to get out of the vehicle and hand over his keys and wallet.
She said as the carjacker was trying to back out of their tricky driveway, he rolled down the window for some reason, and that’s when her son realized the carjacker’s gun was missing a barrel, and he reached in and punched the carjacker. She said that caused him to clip the side of their house and back into the pole.
“I don’t want people to think they can fight somebody, but my son said he was really distracted,” she said. “The car is fine. It has a big scrape on the back bumper, and there is a dent in the bumper where it hit the electrical pole.”
She said they have lights on the back of their house but are adding more, along with some cameras. She wants to make sure no one tries anything like that again.
“It was just overwhelming to have something like that happen. My husband and my other child, we all feel like victims.”
The carjacker took the victim’s iPhone, but police pinged the cell phone and found it in a dumpster on Alexander.
They were able to recover prints from the phone and car but so far have not made an arrest.
The victim’s mother is just glad her son was not hurt and admits this was not your run-of-the-mill carjacking.
“Even the investigator came today and said I was reading the police report, and this is a crazy story.”
If you know anything about the attempted carjacking, call CrimeStoppers at (901)-528-CASH.