Florida carjacker Recorded on video After fleeing with the toddler during last week’s crime, he dumped the car seat on the side of the road with a 3-year-old girl still inside.
Child’s mother I was desperately clinging onto the passenger door. Minutes earlier, a 35-year-old suspect tried to flee with her young daughter but she was unable to stop him, causing a vehicle to eject from her SUV, Broward County authorities said.
The pervert was later arrested, according to the local sheriff’s office.
The Broward County Sheriff’s Office said the terrifying story began around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday when the mother was in an accident in Oakland Park, about 30 minutes north of Miami, and got out of her car to exchange information with other drivers.
That’s when the suspect, Wilio Petioma, got behind the wheel of the SUV and began driving away with the toddler inside, authorities said.
Authorities said the panicked mother grabbed the car door, yelling that her daughter was still inside, and was dragged to the ground.
According to the sheriff’s office, the video then shows Pettiomo pulling over to the side of the road, placing the child in a car seat, then driving off in the stolen vehicle.
Two men immediately rushed over to check on the child, who was eventually reunited with his mother.
Other surveillance footage shows Petioma then abandoning his car on the side of the road and walking away with several items under his arm, before taking off his white T-shirt and throwing it over a nearby wall.
Authorities said the video then shows a shirtless man wearing only black shorts and black shoes walking into a Family Dollar store, where he uses the woman’s credit card.
According to the sheriff’s office, the suspect was arrested four days later on Sunday by a caller who recognized him from images released by police.
Petioma was charged with kidnapping, carjacking, interference with custody of a minor and unlawful use of a credit card.
At the time of his carjacking arrest, the man also had outstanding warrants for possession of cocaine and resisting an officer, authorities said.
