It can be tough for a bystander to know whether someone is the right person to help during an emergency. One man in Florida wanted to be a Good Samaritan by helping a woman who had crashed a car in the middle of a busy intersection, but he didn’t know that the vehicle she was driving was actually stolen. That led the woman to hop into the man’s car and attempt to drive off, though he wasn’t going to let her carjack his vehicle without a fight.
44-year-old woman arrested after allegedly causing three crashes
On October 23 at around 2:47, deputies responded to a call concerning a hit-and-run crash by a woman, later identified as 44-yaer-old Roszetta Benjamin, who went on a carjacking spree in Florida according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office as reported by NBC Miami and WPLG Local 10.
Authorities say that Benjamin was in a stolen vehicle when she involved in a crash with three other cars near Northeast 54th Street and Federal Highway in Deerfield Beach. However, she did not stop and left the scene, only to cause yet another crash at the intersection of North Federal Highway and Hillsboro Boulevard. At that point, her vehicle was disabled.
That is when Wade Anby Beau, a worker at a nearby Mobil gas station, recalls hearing the loud crash outside of his store. He says that he and another unnamed Good Samaritan in a black Mazda sedan who made a U-turn toward the woman tried to render her aid. However, Benjamin suddenly turned the tables and tried to carjack the Mazda instead.
The Good Samaritan struggled with the woman over control of the vehicle. Benjamin was able to shift the Mazda into drive and speed off, but she ultimately crashed the vehicle into the Mobil gas station’s convenience store.
“We thought something would happen to her, like she’s in shock or something,” Beau told NBC Miami.
“And then she jumped to his car and then hit my car, and then went straight right here,” he said, pointing at the window of his gas station that had shattered due to the collision.
Benjamin faces five charges including kidnapping and grand theft auto
Photos taken immediately after the crash shows Benjamin acting erratically and climbing on the hood of the car.
A video of the accident reveals extensive damage dealt to the front of the Mazda and the vehicle jutting partially into the gas station store. Multiple drink coolers toppled onto the ground and glass from the window were scattered about the floor. Beau said that it took two days for him to clear the debris from the accident, though the shattered window had not yet been replaced and was still covered by a black plastic cover held together by duct tape.
Another video captured by a bystander shows Benjamin being ordered by deputies to get on the ground in the middle of the gas station. Surrounded, she complied without incident and was placed in handcuffs as one deputy pressed on her back.
The sheriff’s office says that victims from the first crash suffered minor injuries, while a driver from the second crash was taken to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. Fortunately, no one was killed due to the incident.
Beau was grateful that no pedestrians or customers at the gas station were hurt. He said, “It could be, like something major, because people are always walking through here.”
According to inmate search information from Sheriff.org, Benjamin faces a total of five charges, including kidnapping, carjacking without a firearm or weapon, grand theft auto, and two counts of reckless driving with damage done to a person or property.
During her court appearance, a judge set her bond to over $104,000. The investigation into the incident is still ongoing.
