Victim in brazen Melbourne car theft speaks out

MELBOURNE, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - She tried to stop a guy from stealing her car and instead was dragged across a parking lot.  Now that victim is speaking out. 

The  theft happened at a Chevron gas station in Melbourne Sunday and was all captured on a security camera. Brandy Johnson was making a quick stop at the store when a stranger got inside her car.

“I have a sprained wrist, when I hit the ground I had a big old lump on the back of my head, I have road rash all over the right side of my body,” Johnson said about her injuries.

You can see in surveillance video that when she enters the store, the man enters her car. She bolts back out to stop him and sticks her arm through the window.

“He just starts reversing and pulling forward, reversing and pulling forward, just dragging me, dragging me all through the parking lot,” she explained.

Even though bystanders tried to help, the suspect got away. Without the car, the single mother of two had bought just a few days earlier, her life is a mess.

“I have to knock on my neighbors doors every day to get my kids to school and back or to the grocery store,” Johnson said.

Police say they don’t know where the gold Chevy Cavalier could be but the suspect may be local.

“You can assume that he has some local tie at least because he walked up,” said Commander Sean Riordan of Melbourne Police.

Investigators are still hopeful that the video and the power of social media could lead to a solid tip. Johnson is ready to ID the guy once there’s an arrest.

“I’m ready to point my little finger and point him out if that’s what I gotta do. Justice will be served. I know that,” she said.

Meantime, she replays the scene over and over again

“Every time I close my eyes I see this man’s face,” she said.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Melbourne Police.