'Help me': Woman silently gets officer's attention during carjacking

ATLANTA — A woman’s quick thinking led to the arrest of a carjacking suspect in southwest Atlanta.

The woman, who did not want to be identified, said she was in the car with her husband on Campbellton Road on Tuesday when a man jumped in and ordered her to drive.

The man held a gun to her head while she drove for nearly an hour, she said.

She spotted a police officer in a marked car out on patrol on Sandtown Road.

“When I saw that one, I said ‘Help me,’ and then pulled in front of him. I was like going to run on into him,” the victim said.

Atlanta police captain Rick Mason said it took him a minute to realize what was happening.

“I thought she was texting and driving, so I stopped and was watching her to see what she was doing and she looked up, made eye contact and she actually mouthed the words, ‘Help me,’” he said.

The woman jumped out of the car and told the officer she was being carjacked.

The victim said she made her choice because she felt the threat growing.

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“I knew if he took me away from where I was in that area, he’d probably hurt us,” she said. “He kept saying, ‘I need to go to Union City, Riverdale. I need to get more guns.’”

The suspect then hopped in the driver’s seat and took off, police said.

Dashcam video appears to show the suspect driving off and crashing head-on into another car. Police said he broke his leg in the crash.

The woman believes she was able to stop the suspect from hurting anyone else.

Cox Media Group