Carjacking suspect takes woman’s SUV in police chase, crash in Miami Beach – NBC 6 South Florida

A South Florida woman says her car was stolen over the weekend and the alleged carjacker led police on a chase that ended in a crash Sunday in Miami Beach.

Glenda Defas was parking her SUV in Miami on Saturday when a man asked her for money. When she told the man she had no money, he approached her with a hammer and threatened her, she said.

“I was shaking because the guy was threatening me with a hammer,” Defas said. “(I said) ‘You’re going to destroy yourself for this and destroy my life?’

Defas drove off, but moments later, the man got into her SUV and took off. Her brother, who is disabled and deaf, was inside the vehicle but got out when the man got in.

“My brother came running and said, Glenda, the guy took the car,” Defas said.

Defas said several of her personal items were inside the SUV, including her credit card, which she said the suspect later used. She said the suspect also sold some of her belongings. Defas had to borrow a phone so she could call 911.

“It took seven years to pay off this car and finally I ran out of payments and that’s what happened,” Defas said. “I feel hopeless, I feel broken.”

Defas left to look for his vehicle. According to an arrest report, the next day, a license plate reader pulled up the stolen SUV in the city of Miami. The man inside the SUV was identified as Savalas Cigar. Police said when they tried to pull Cigar over him, he sped off.

Miami-Dade Corrections

A Florida Highway Patrol trooper was able to use a PIT maneuver, causing the SUV to overturn on the westbound ramp from Alton Road to I-195, just past Mount Sinai Medical Center. The police quickly arrested the Cigar.

Defas said he hadn’t slept much in days.

“I’m trying to do the best I can and I don’t think I deserve it,” Defas said. “It’s not fair, it’s not fair.”

Defas went to Alton Road on Tuesday to see where her SUV had overturned. He also found his credit card.

She said she wants justice.

“It destroyed seven years of my life here,” Defas said.

Cigar is charged with grand larceny and fleeing and aggravated eluding a police officer.

A GoFundMe has been set up for Defas.