MIAMI – Miami police are looking for a woman who investigators believe was drunk when she carjacked a cashier at Sedano's Supermarket in Little Havana.
In surveillance video released by police, the woman staggers through the aisles of the supermarket at Southwest 8th Street and 24th Avenue, then heads out to the parking lot where she confronts 44-year-old cashier Licet Fernandez who was arriving for work.
She taps on the window, telling the cashier her tire was flat. When the cashier gets out to look, the woman takes off in her car.
Watch: Surveillance video
Fernandez fought back in an attempt to save her car and purse, which was still in the passenger seat with $140 inside.
The suspect sped off westbound on SW Eighth Street against oncoming traffic causing two separate accidents before losing control and careening through the yard of Eladia and Calisto Vila, flattening a fence and their shrubbery.
"I'm so lucky it wasn't one of my grandkids in the back yard," said Eladia Vila.
Two witnesses saw the crash and pulled over to help, police said. The carjacker pleaded with them to help her father who was stuck in the car, but there was no father.
With their attention diverted, the carjacker tried to take off in their truck, but they had the keys. Instead, she ran away with Fernandez's purse in hand.
"Not only has she committed numerous serious crimes, she is also considered very dangerous," said Miami police spokesman Rene Pimentel. "Every time you get into a car and speed off the way she did, it's like having a very, very large bullet."
Police described the carjacker as a woman between 40 and 50 years old and weighing about 150 pounds. She was last seen wearing dark clothing and carrying a black bag.
Anyone with information on the carjacking is asked to call Miami-Dade Crimestoppers at 305-471-TIPS.