A carjacker is said to have targeted an 81-year-old woman as she was feeding the homeless at a supermarket, then dragged her in her car when she tried to stop him.
Nina Steinman, of Redlands, California, distributed groceries to the homeless at Stater Bros Markets on E Colton Avenue around 3:30 p.m. Monday – something she had been doing since January
While she was conducting the charity drive, a carjacker who police say was Carlos Sanchez Jr., 24, “forced her keys and got into the driver’s seat.”
The market was the last stop she had to make as she stopped to hand three men food and homemade iced tea as Sanchez reportedly approached her car.
“I said I’m out of food, it’s all gone, but I can get you an iced tea,” she told KTLA.
Steinman says she tried to stop Sanchez by holding onto the driver’s side door handle, but the suspect quickly backed up with the trunk open, dragging Steinman several feet off the ground.
“Let me tell you, I’m not afraid,” she told KTLA. “I wanted to grab his shirt and just pull the little pup out of the front seat, but I couldn’t open the door.”
Surveillance footage shows the woman being thrown from the car and rolling violently on the ground.
Three young men appear to be chasing after the car, but Sanchez reportedly managed to escape. The men then help Steinman off the ground and give her the things she dropped.
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) located Sanchez in the driver’s seat of the Kia Sportage on East 11th Street in the City of Angels and took him to the LAPD Newtown Community Police Station, where Redlands police met her.
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Nina Steinman, 81, (pictured on the ground) was thrown violently to the ground after attempting to open the driver’s door. Suspect Carlos Sanchez Jr., 24, backed out of the room, dragging Steinman several feet with him
Steinman rolled several times as Sanchez pulled out of the parking lot. Police reported she was unharmed, suffering only a few bruises
Sanchez reportedly “forced” the car keys from an elderly woman around 3:30 p.m. Monday at the Stater Bros Markets on E Colton Avenue before dragging her across the parking lot when he stole her Kia Sportage
Steinman said she planned to pull him out of the car but couldn’t open the door
The department said officers were able to confirm “based on evidence and testimonies” that Sanchez was the parking lot suspect.
Sanchez is being held at the West Valley Detention Center on $250,000 bail and charged with carjacking and elder abuse.
Redland’s PD reported Steinman was unharmed in the incident, suffering only a few bruises.
Steinman told KTLA that Sanchez ran away with her purse and keys and that she needed to “change the locks” on her house because she was “so scared he would try to break in.”
Despite the horrific experience, Steinman said she will continue to help the unfortunate.
“I’m 81 and the Lord will probably take me home soon, so I won’t stop while I’m here. It’s exactly what I’m called to do,” she said.
A total of 2,064 vehicles were stolen in LA County in the past 30 days and a total of 10,192 for the year. Meanwhile, just 1,440 have been arrested for the crime in 2022.
Earlier this month, the LA County Sheriff compared bright-eyed District Attorney George Gascon to an ego-crazed Moses with rules set in stone as he blasted prosecutors for denying 13,238 cases of his deputies.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva claims Gascon has dismissed the large number of cases brought to him since taking office in 2020 because they “do not conform to his special instructions.”
“He showed up like Moses with his 10 commandments with his tablets and said, ‘Here are my special orders, take them or take them,'” Villanueva told Fox News. “It doesn’t foster a good working relationship.
“MPs will continue to do their work, they make the arrests, they write the reports, but what happens after it’s brought to the prosecutor’s office is where it all falls apart.”
It comes as the city continues to see a rise in violent crime, up more than 15 percent since 2020, while Gascon faces its second recall attempt since taking office.
Gascon has been vocal about his belief that the criminal justice system needs to focus more on intervention and rehabilitation, calling the “hard crime” policy racist and a failure.
And after his first 100 days in office, he campaigned for the changes he’s made to the city’s judicial system — including limiting the use of law enforcement enhancements.
Sanchez was seen getting into the driver’s seat after stealing the keys while Steinman was distributing food to the homeless
Three young men who were picking up groceries from Steinman help her up and return the items she dropped
The incident happened in the State Bros Market parking lot on Colton Ave (pictured).
The California Criminal Code contains more than 100 amendments that could increase a convict’s sentence depending on the situation, most of which date back to when California faced rising crime rates in the 1980s and 1990s.
But under Gascon’s rule, the use of those improvements was sharply reduced, with the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office recording 5,138 improvements in the first three months — a 71 percent decrease from the same time a year earlier.
In the first three months, prosecutors also filed just 106 gun upgrades — an 85 percent drop.
Gascon also barred prosecutors from charging juveniles as adults, regardless of the seriousness of their alleged crimes.
Villanueva – who is a Democrat himself – slammed the guards’ politics, telling Fox: “I think the entire universe of the guards of progressive reform has epic failed across the nation.
“These are people who have done bad things, who have left a victim, who have provided evidence and [the DA’s office] said, “Don’t worry.”‘
Overall crime in Los Angeles is up 7.6 percent, and since January 1, there have been more than 10,000 auto thefts in the City of Angels