DANVERS, MASS. (WHDH) - A 38-year-old man from Springfield, Mass., is in custody after authorities say he led state and local police on a chase, following a carjacking in Danvers, and now his alleged victim is speaking to Just One Station.
Massachusetts State Police spokesperson Dave Procopio said the pursuit occurred after a suspect allegedly stole a woman’s vehicle in the parking lot of a Stop & Shop.
According to Procopio, the suspect went on to drive along Route 97 and I-95 South, pursued by police from Topsfield at one point before state troopers took over.
“[The] vehicle had damage from some sort of crash he was in before the pursuit began,” Procopio said in a news release. “We ended up stopping him just north of the Ferncroft rotary on the Danvers-Boxford line.”
Following his apprehension, the suspect was taken to a hospital after he “complained of pain.”
Procopio said the suspect will later be turned over to the Danvers Police Department, where authorities are expected to charge him in relation to the carjacking.
The 81-year-old victim told 7NEWS she had just left the store with some tomatoes when the crime occurred.
“I was shocked, you don’t expect that, I’ve never had anything like that happen before,” Judith Finn said. “I got in my car and immediately the door opened and he grabbed me and started to throw me on the ground but I stopped myself, and he jumped in the car and drove off.”
Finn said she was a little shaken up but she’s fine now.
“I saw him sitting on the ground when I walked in … but I didn’t think anything of it,” she recalled.
She also wanted to thank the good Samaritans who came to her aid in the parking lot and the police who tracked down the suspect.
“The people in the parking lot were wonderful so I’m really grateful, it could have been a lot worse … I’m lucky that I’m fine and I actually get my car back,” she said.
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