A woman is shaken, but physically uninjured, after being the victim of a carjacking in Victoria on Monday.
Just before noon, Asha Makwana says she had stopped in the 1000 block of Johnson Street to take a picture of a commercial space for sale, when she saw a man looking back and forth.
“I thought he was going to cross the street,” Makwana told CHEK News.
She was standing next to her car, when instead of crossing the street, she watched the man start to try and open her car door.
“As I’m walking to the driver’s side he opened my car door and then I tried to stop him so I was like ‘Hey what are you doing? Get out!’ and he just threw me,” Asha Makwana told CHEK News.
Makwana says the man then drove off after he knocked her to the ground.
“I can’t believe this happened here in Victoria! I would have never thought someone like this happens here,” said Makwana.
Since her vehicle is a Tesla, Makwana says she was able to use her Tesla app to track where the driver was headed and also try and stop it from driving.
Makwana says she called police, and also flagged down an officer who was driving by. She showed him where the driver had gone, and the officer sped off.
“Then five minutes later another police vehicle pulled up and told me to get in and they have my car,” she said.
The driver didn’t get far. At Doncaster Road and Cedar Hill Road, he collided with a blue Yaris. The thief didn’t stop there, he continued to drive to Finlayson and Cook streets before abandoning the car to flee on foot.
“It was completely totalled all the airbags were deployed,” Makwana said. “Luckily all of my belongings were still there.”
Victoria Police say officers were able to arrest him nearby and took him into custody. VicPD says the investigation is ongoing.
“I’m still really shaken up,” said Makwana, who now has to deal with ICBC claims.
She says they’ve offered her $40 a day to go towards a car rental.
Kori Sidaway
