Rideshare driver says she was carjacked, attacked by 14-year-old girl
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CHICAGO (WBBM) — The carjacking crisis in Chicago is getting worse.
Police said there have been 352 carjackings in the city so far this year, and only 62 arrests. Authorities say a 14-year-old girl was behind at least four of the carjackings.
CBS 2’s Tara Molina on Wednesday spoke to an Uber driver who said she was targeted by the teenager.
The 14-year-old girl, whom we are not identifying because of her age, appeared in court Wednesday with her family. She is facing four felony charges accusing her of involvement carjackings.
One of the victims was Uber driver Carolyn Andrews – who still can’t get back in the driver’s seat without thinking about it.
“One jumped behind me so fast that my head was like this,” Andrews said. “When I got back in the car, it’s like, I could just feel her hands around my neck.”
She said she picked up two young girls one night while driving for Uber – only to end up in a chokehold…
“It hurts,” Andrews said.
She had blood pouring from her nose.
“I did have to go to the hospital,” Andrews said.
Andrews relies on oxygen and a special heart monitor 24/7. She said she had the beg the girls to give her medical items to her before stranding her on the West Side.
“They passed it to me they self,” Andrews said.
Andrews showed us the car in which they took off – now damaged with a bullet hole in the back, but recovered and back in her spot.
“Thank God they spared my life,” Andrews said.
One of the girls behind her carjacking saw a judge Wednesday – and we found prosecutors say Andrews is not the 14-year-old’s only victim.
Police said she is behind three other recent vehicular hijackings and the theft of a running car in West Town and Logan Square.
She is accused of carjacking a 64-year-old man – also a rideshare driver – in the 2900 block of West Walton Street at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 20 – the very same block where Andrews was carjacked four days earlier.
The girl is also accused of carjacking a 36-year-old woman at 9:35 p.m. Jan. 20 in the 2500 block of West Chicago Avenue, and taking an unattended running vehicle at 9 p.m. that night in the 1900 block of North Rockwell Street.
We learned that 14-year-old was already on electronic monitoring before her arrest.
“Lock her up,” Andrews said. “That’s what I want to see.”
Andrews is back driving for Uber again, because she says she can’t afford not to.
“I’m working paycheck to paycheck,” she said.
But she hopes the girl behind the anxious feeling she gets every time she gets behind the wheel is learning something the fourth time around.
“It shouldn’t come to no fourth victim,” Andrews said.
That 14-year-old girl is still on electronic monitoring – with a judge’s orders to stay home. She has a probation officer monitoring her and an educational advocate helping her with school.
The girl is due back in court Wednesday, March 24.
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