A 19 year old Des Moines woman is talking about her harrowing encounter with a car thief Wednesday night outside a Quick Trip.
Alexis Stonehocker tells WHO-TV 13 she stopped by the store on her way to her boyfriend’s house around 8 p.m. on Wednesday to grab some drinks and left her car running out front.
“When I went inside I came back out and all of a sudden I saw somebody in my car and I was like okay that’s kind of weird and I asked her what she was doing and she proceeded to lock the doors,” Stonehocker says.
She said the woman then told her several stories about how she felt unsafe and got in Alexis’s car to get away from someone. After police were already on their way Alexis says she asked the woman to get out and the woman responded by putting the car in reverse.
“So I just tried to jump in and at that point when I wasn’t able to really like get into her lap per say, at that point I just kind of held on to her and tried pulling her out of my car as easily as I could with her driving,” Stonehocker told WHO-TV 13.
Stonehocker said she was dragged about 15 to 20 feet across the QT parking lot trying to stop the woman from stealing her car.
“At first I thought I almost would have died because I thought I was going to get pinned up against the car and the pillar, the brick wall pillar and so thankfully I let go enough in time and I was able to I think it's probably about like 20 feet away from where I was originally at and I was by the gas pumps on the ground,” Stonehocker says.
After a couple of police pursuits and a crash, police arrested 31 year old Mai Xiro on a number of charges.
Stonehocker ended up with road rash, a concussion and some bruises. She also has some advice for anyone else who may find themselves in that situation.
“A car can be replaced but you can’t so don’t risk your life trying to save a car."