Crime & Safety

Woman Escapes Kidnapping, Carjacking

Suspect hid in the woman's car, then attacked her from inside the cab, police say.

SANTA MONICA, CA -- A woman escaped a traumatizing carjacking Sunday, and with the help of a Good Samaritan, authorities have arrested and charged the suspect.

It was daylight but the woman didn't spot a man, identified by police as 42-year-old Lubomir Gueorguiev, hiding in the back of her Jeep.

She plopped into the driver's seat after shopping, tried to start the car—then felt someone grab her forearm, the Santa Monica Police Department reported.

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"She looked back and saw a male subject in the back of her car," spokesman Sgt. Richard Lewis Thursday. "When she was grabbed, she freaked out and hysterically started flaying around. She jumped out of the car, was almost run over."

The attack happened about 3 p.m. Sunday in the 15100 block of Wilshire Boulevard.

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"The victim was so traumatized that during [a police interview] she was unable to stand," Lewis said.

Officers were able to find the suspect with help from a witness who had run after him when he fled from the Jeep. The suspect hunkered down in a nearby apartment complex, but the Good Samaritan kept an eye on him until police arrived to set up a perimeter, Lewis said.

"He definitely helped out," Lewis said. "He was instrumental."

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office charged Gueorguiev with four felonies: kidnapping, false imprisonment by violence, second degree burglary of a vehicle and carjacking. Bail was set at $125,000.

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