Distracted by a car fire down the street, police say the 56-year-old woman never saw it coming as she returned to filling up her car at the BP station on Laurel Fort Meade Road.
"She was at the gas station pumping gas,” said Lt. Ryan Frashure of the Anne Arundel County Police Department, “When she went to reach into her vehicle to remove the keys from the vehicle, the suspect approached her, physically pulled her out of the way, out of the vehicle, jumped into her car and quickly sped off the lot on to 198."
The suspect, 38-year-old Mehran Mianrood, who was later identified as a homeless man, drove west on Route 198, but was spotted a few blocks away.
"The officers in the area quickly located the suspect vehicle that was taken in the crime, attempted to stop that vehicle and when they did, the suspect wouldn't stop, accelerated and led the officers on a police pursuit," said Frashure.
The suspect reached speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour, ignoring red lights and driving the wrong way on both Route 1 and Gorman Avenue before he struck a marked patrol car from behind at Route 197 and Interstate 295 and then did a U-turn on the ramps striking the same police car a second time before the chase came to an end.
Police say the original carjacking victim was not injured in the incident.
"With our citizens we preach just knowing your surroundings, knowing what's around you, but this is certainly one of those situations where she was just at the wrong place at the wrong time," said Frashure.
It turns out there was also an outstanding warrant in Baltimore City for the suspect after police say he was arrested in a stolen car at the Horseshoe Casino garage a week ago.
That car was taken under similar circumstances from a gas station in Yonkers, New York where the owner left the keys in it as he ran in to get a cup of coffee.
