FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A 66-year-old Uber driver said Monday that he was leaving his home in Fort Lauderdale’s Central Beach neighborhood when two carjackers targeted him at gunpoint.
The victim, who asked not to be identified, said a man with custom-fit gold teeth pulled his door open, reached in to grab him by the shirt, pulled him out of the car and threw him to the ground.
After he and his accomplice took off in his sports utility vehicle, the victim rushed to find a phone and call 911 to report the men.
“I want them to go to jail ... that’s where these guys belong so they can’t do this to somebody else,” the victim said. “If I don’t stand up, it could be one of my neighbors, next time. It could be somebody around the corner, people I drive, people I like, people that I know."
When officers spotted his SUV on Sunday nearby, there was a high-speed chase. The carjacker crashed the SUV at 31st Avenue and West Oakland Park Boulevard and took off running. Officers caught up to two suspects.
Detectives identified them as Jim Eduardo Villalta, 25, and Chancery Germaine Sturrup, 27. They are being held at Broward County jail without bond.
Villalta and Sturrup are facing charges of carjacking, resisting arrest, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and aggravated assault on someone 65 years old and older.