84-Year-Old Stillwater Woman Stands Up To Carjacker's Demands, Escapes Alive
STILLWATER, Minn. (WCCO) -- An 84-year-old Stillwater woman is still coming to terms with the fact she stood up to someone trying to carjack her. It happened in broad daylight, around 11 a.m. on Wednesday, April 13, after she finished volunteering at St. Michael's Catholic Church.
"It makes me mad that this can happen to people," said Pat Finnegan, who is just overcoming the shock.
Because of a funeral happening at St. Michael's that morning, Finnegan had to park her car across the street at the Washington County Historic Courthouse. When she approached her car, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
"I started the motor up and moving a little bit. I went to the corner, and I talked to a lady for 10 minutes and he must have been in the car the whole time," said Finnegan.
She believes her attacker was lying on the floor of her car, and eventually made himself known.
"Then he hit me and said, 'Take me to Minneapolis,'" said Finnegan.
She refused to drive him there, and instead drove aimlessly around the neighborhood, while she figured out what to do.
"I just told him, 'I don't know my way to Minneapolis,'" said Finnegan.
The carjacker struck her a second time and, again, demanded a ride to the city before eventually coming up with a new plan.
"He said, 'Get out! Get out!' And I thought, 'I'm getting out,' and then I walked home and called 911," said Finnegan.
She shared a picture showing the slashes left behind on her right cheek and ear, moments after she was hit.
"I had to have six stitches there because, whatever he had had a hook at the end of it. When he hit me and it must have caught my ear," said Finnegan.
Stillwater police are still looking for the carjacker. All Finnegan says she wants is her car back at this point, but if she were to ever face her attacker again, "I guess I'd say, 'Would you do this to your mother?'"
Finnegan describes her stolen car as a champagne-colored 2008 Buick Lacrosse.
Police believe the suspect left the Stillwater area. They're asking the public to be on the lookout to help catch him.
To contact the Stillwater Police Department, call 651-351-4900