Attempted carjacking foiled

ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - A man was jailed after police say a mom stopped a carjacking.  The victim says she was in her car, when a stranger got in and started grabbing the steering wheel.

The woman, who asked not to be named in this report, said she was driving along Livingston Street by Garland, when a strange man standing in the middle of the street got her to slow down. She said he forced his way into her van.

"I pulled my handbag here. So he get inside and he said 'Drive! Drive!' and I start making noise with my horn."

Police said the man forced her to run a red light.

"We were in Amelia Street, under I-4, and the light was red,and he kept screaming 'Drive! Drive!' He scared me and was screaming in my face." 

She saw the Lynx bus terminal and turned in while fighting off the stranger. That's when she honked her horn again.  

"He scratch me here and here and in my neck, and he was trying to pull me."

But she didn't back down. 

"Continued being noisy with the car, ppened the door and threw out my handbag and screamed 'Help! Help! Help!" 

Despite her screaming, she says one man simply started video taping with his cell phone, but then an older man came to her rescue.

"You never expect who's going to help you in a situation like that. There were like six young, very strong guys doing nothing, like paralyzed. And this old guy came and helped me out of the car. I was so grateful to him."

Grateful to the stranger who hopped back onto a bus, after Lynx security officers came and held the suspect down, until police arrived.

Officers arrested 23-year-old Luis Ortiz and charged him with burglary and assault.  This mother and wife also believes her late father, who was a policeman, gave her a helping hand from heaven.

"During this whole thing, I heard the voice of my father saying, 'You need to be calm and relax. You know what you need to do,' and I tried to follow that."