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Man carjacked in shopping center parking lot near Oslo Road speaks out

Posted at 6:50 PM, May 15, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-15 18:50:43-04

Eighty one year old Harold Eastman couldn't believe a stranger jumped into his car as he waited for his wife who was grocery shopping." Harold says he told the man, "Sir you are in the wrong car, and he said shut up and I knew I was in trouble."

He says the man started to drive his car as Harold sat in the passenger seat. "He went through the backside of the shopping center, where the Oslo dirt road is, and he had an accomplice who jumped into the car." Now, there were two strangers in the car. Harold says they drove close to a boat ramp. "And we get down there and he yanked me out with this hand."

The elderly man, along with his portable oxygen, left standing there alone. But a couple near the boat ramp at the time, called 911.

As they waited for the sheriff's office to arrive, Harold, who had just been carjacked, was worried about his wife. "She's going to come out and see the car gone and me gone and go ballistic." 

He was right. She came out of the store and couldn't find him in the parking lot, but a deputy spotted her. His wife Soula said, "I asked where is my husband, he said don't worry, he had been carjacked."

Detectives reunited Harold and Soula. 

"It was scary especially because of his age and he wasn't feeling too well," Soula said. 

The car was found and the suspects were arrested. The Indian River County and Saint Lucie County sheriff's offices worked together to find the suspects. Both are juveniles facing kidnapping charges, carjacking and abuse of an elderly person. Both are in the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice.