Uber driver shares frightening details of violent carjacking in West Covina

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — An Uber driver shared the frightening details of the moment a stranger violently tried to steal her car at a gas station in West Covina.

The incident happened the night of January 27.

Casllie Scott, who’s also a specialist for the Army National Guard, told investigators that the suspect, who was riding a bicycle, asked for a ride. She declined at first but then agreed to drop the man off at a nearby gas station.

As she was helping him get his bike into her trunk, things took a turn for the worst.

“He just … I don’t know … from when he turned to go toward the driver’s side … his face, his demeanor … everything shifted from like from like innocent to like rogue,” said Scott.

The incident was captured on surveillance video. At one point, Scott shoved her hand through the door, keeping it open while the man tried to lock the car from the inside.

READ MORE | Carjacking suspect and Uber driver tussle before crash in West Covina

“I just knew like .. I’ve got to get this door open or he’s going to rip my arm off,” she said. “In my mind, I’m like, ‘I’m in school to be a surgical tech, I’m in the National Guard, I’m a painter … I need my right hand.’ So I open it up on time, and as soon as I jump in, I kept telling him stop.”

Scott was laying across the man’s lap, holding onto the middle console. She could feel his movements as he lifted his leg to slam on the accelerator. The vehicle then crashed into a pole.

“I guess when he saw that it was drawing attention, he elbowed me in my face, and then he gets out and took off running,” said Scott. “I initially stepped out because, I don’t know why, but my thought was to go after him. I was going to chase him, but as soon as I got out of the car, my entire body just dropped. That’s when all the pain and everything came rushing back.”

Scott said the impact of the crash totaled her car and left her face bruised, but she said her immediate instinct was to simply fight back.

“I think back to it all the time, and I’m like, ‘Why? Why did I jump into the car?’ and everyone’s like, ‘That’s that soldier in you to just fight back for what’s yours,’ and feel like I had to.”

Scott has since created a GoFundMe to raise money for a new car and to help get her art business back on track.

“I have always done right by people-I give back, I help others, and I do my best to make a difference in the world,” she wrote on the GoFundMe’s description. “Even when my National Guard unit was not activated, I volunteered to assist during the LA fires, stepping up when others needed help. Yet here I am, facing one of the hardest struggles of my life, wondering how someone could do this to me when all I’ve ever done is try to help others.”

To donate, click here.

Meanwhile, police say the suspect has since been arrested.