BRANDYWINE HUNDRED, DELAWARE (7/31/2016) A 34-year-old woman was injured in a Brandywine Hundred carjacking and the suspect was captured after crashing in Pennsylvania, the Delaware State Police said Saturday.
The incident happened about 6:45 p.m. Friday at the Wawa convenience store and gas station at 697 Naamans Road, where the woman stopped for fuel after picking up a man she knows who was walking along Philadelphia Pike.
As she was pumping gas, police said, the acquaintance, Aristotelis Marinas, 41, of Wilmington, moved into the driver’s seat and tried to start the Toyota Tacoma pickup truck.
The woman and Marinas struggled over the keys, police said, and he then drove away, dragging her to the ground and pulling the gas hose from the pump.
A witness followed the truck before losing sight of it in the area of Darley Road. Other witnesses then saw it driving recklessly through the Ashbourne Hills neighborhood, where it damaged landscaping and a tree before fleeing into Pennsylvania.
Marinas was arrested by police in Chester after the truck collided with a building there at West Fourth and Tilghman streets.
He is awaiting extradition to Delaware and will face charges of first-degree carjacking, second-degree assault, reckless endangering, driving under the influence of drugs, reckless driving and other traffic offenses.
The woman was treated at a hospital for injuries police said were not life-threatening.