Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
Monday was just a normal day for the woman driving her 2011 Hyundai Sonata from her apartment to the complex dumpster to get rid of her trash bags.
That all changed at 11:56 a.m.
Advertisements
As the woman, who wanted to keep her name private, was taking her trash to the dumpster in the Orangewood Apartments in Bristol Township’s Levittown section, she spotted a man running toward her.
“I thought he was jogging,” she said.
Moments later, he told her she hit something, she recalled when talking with LevittownNow.com.
Advertisements
“I told him, ‘you must be mistaken.’”
Next thing she knew, he was pulling her door open and had commandeered her sedan.
Advertisements
The woman said she put up a bit of a fight but he made off with the car.
Bristol Township police learned of the carjacking and broadcast the description of the stolen vehicle and suspect over their radios.
On Veterans Highway (Route 413) near the entrance to I-95, officers spotted the vehicle and followed it onto I-95 north. While traveling on the highway, the Hyundai pulled over and the carjacking suspect got out near the Ford Road overpass, fleeing while carrying the owner’s purse, police said.
Advertisements
Officers were able to take the suspect – identified as John Joseph Monachelli Jr., 37, of Bristol Township’s Croydon section – into custody without incident following the foot chase, police said.
Monachelli chucked the Hyundai owner’s purse while fleeing.
Advertisements
The sedan, according to its owner, had some front-end damage and was returned Tuesday morning by Officer John Jennings.
“Officer Jennings was my guardian angel. I can’t think Bristol Township police enough,” she said.
Advertisements
Monachelli was arraigned late Monday night on charges of robbery of a motor vehicle, theft, receiving stolen property, theft from a motor vehicle, simple assault, reckless endangerment, fleeing or attempting to elude an officer, and several summary offenses. He was sent to the Bucks County Correctional Facility in Doylestown Township on 10 percent of $125,000 bail.
The carjacking victim had a message for other area residents and especially seniors who are set in their routine: “Be vigilant and be aware of the surroundings.”
Advertisements
Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.
