CHARLOTTE — A carjacking suspect crashed a stolen Mercedes Benz into a sedan with a woman and child inside before he was arrested when police found him hiding in a recycling bin in north Charlotte, officials said. On Thursday, Channel 9 learned who police arrested in the case.
Channel 9′s crime reporter Hunter Sáenz discovered Marshay Washington is behind bars for the crime. According to the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office, the 27-year-old is charged with robbery with a dangerous weapon, larceny of motor vehicle parts, eluding arrest, felony hit and run, and reckless driving to endanger.
He was given a $70,000 bond, and was due in court Thursday morning.
Video shows moment pursuit ends in crash in Belmont neighborhood
Video from surveillance cameras at Sweet Lew’s BBQ shows when a mother and her 4-year-old son, who were both in a gray car, where hit by the stolen car. It may be difficult to watch but fortunately, no one was seriously hurt.
Channel 9′s Glenn Counts spoke exclusively with her Wednesday night.
“When he hit me, it was loud,” said the woman, who did not want to be identified. “Like that noise, I will never get out of my head because he hit me hard.”
The incident stemmed from a carjacking at about 6 p.m. Tuesday in University City, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said in a news release.
Initially, police said officers responded to an armed carjacking that happened when the driver was at a stoplight. The victim said he was forced out of the Mercedes at gunpoint.
From court documents, Channel 9 learned Friday that the carjacking actually happened in the parking lot of the victim’s apartment complex.
The suspect then drove off and CMPD’s Real Time Crime Center located the car on The Plaza a short time later. Officers tried to pull over the car but the suspect didn’t stop, so a pursuit started but the police lost the car.
Officers were about to end the chase when they saw a crash up ahead.
It was shortly after 7 p.m. when the suspect continued to drive recklessly and crashed, hitting a silver sedan with a woman and child inside, at the intersection of Belmont Avenue and Harrill Street.
Witnesses: A driver in a suspected stolen white Mercedes struck an innocent driver in the silver sedan in the Belmont neighborhood near Ace and Sweet Lew’s. A mom and her child were able to escape with minor injuries. The suspect ran. No word on arrests @wsoctv pic.twitter.com/n8brAz3byF
— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) February 7, 2023
In the video, you can see how seconds before impact, people were going about their evening -- walking across the street, going to nearby businesses -- before the Mercedes collided with the innocent driver.
“We checked with the woman to make sure she’s OK, and she says, ‘I have a baby in the back. Check my baby,’” witness Paul Janos said.
Officers and bystanders helped get the two out of the car.
The woman and her child were not seriously hurt. They were taken to an area hospital as a precaution, police said.
“It is so lucky that no one was harmed,” Janos said.
One resident’s Ring camera captured police speeding through the neighborhood. Seconds after the crash, a police cruiser arrived with its lights on as bystanders rushed to the scene to help.
After the crash, the suspect ran from the stolen Mercedes, police said.
A nearby resident said she heard a loud boom, looked outside, and saw someone jump a neighbor’s privacy fence.
“He must’ve been on adrenaline because he jumped that fence like it was nothing,” the witness told Channel 9′s Joe Bruno. “Like he was a deer.”
Police officers found the suspect hiding in her recycling bin and he was arrested without further incident. A handgun was inside the Mercedes.
The stolen Mercedes appeared to have been from a dealership. It had a windshield sticker on the vehicle that typically displays the year or price. In the court documents Channel 9 obtained, authorities confirmed the person who the car was stolen from was a worker at the Chevrolet dealership where the car is registered to -- Parks Chevrolet Charlotte.
Alijah Frazier lives just feet away from where the crash happened. He said he’s lucky he and his little sister weren’t out when it happened.
“If it was right there, we could have been out walking. It could have hit us,” he said.
He said he’s just thankful everyone walked away without any serious injuries.
“I wish it didn’t happen. I wish it didn’t happen for real,” Frazier said.
(WATCH MORE: Video shows moment pursuit ends in crash in Belmont neighborhood)
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