Woman confronts, helps hold suspected carjacker
DALLAS — Police arrested a robbery suspect Wednesday after a chase ended with a major accident before the suspect was taken down by a woman and her boyfriend he plowed into at a Dallas intersection.
Police said two people were transported to local hospitals in unknown condition.
The chase began when the driver — later identified by police as 39-year-old Artrai Alexander — carjacked Drecelus Hunter's white Dodge Challenger.
"I walked up to the car and he pointed the gun at me," Hunter said. Hunter said Alexander then said, "'Back away from the car. Yeah, I know it's your car, but back away from it!'"
With police on his tail, Alexander then led a pursuit through northeast Dallas for about 20 minutes when the Challenger crashed into a minivan, which had stopped at a red light.
Charles Cook, his girlfriend Jessica Liesmann, and her 13-year-old son were in that minivan. Liesmann got out of the family's car first to confront the driver of the Challenger, who is seen trying to run away in the dramatic video recorded by a WFAA-TV helicopter.
"I heard screaming and then I heard the crash," Cook said. "By the time I turned back around, my girlfriend was already trying to get out of the car."
"All I could think about is, 'You're not getting away... you're not getting away,'" Liesmann added.
"She was yelling at the dude, 'Look what you did to my car! Look what you did to my car!'" Cook recalled. "And I could hear him saying, 'Just let me go, let me go!' And she was like, 'No, you're not going nowhere! Look what you just did to my car!'"
Cook and Liesmann grabbed Alexander and threw him to the ground, just as police arrived.
"I was yelling all kinds of things that I may not remember... but I hope he does," Liesmann said.
At a news briefing, Dallas police spokesman Cpl. Demarquis Black said a weapon was found inside the suspect's vehicle.
Alexander faces pending charges of aggravated robbery and hit-and-run, Black said.
An investigation is ongoing.