A Bel Air man was arrested Tuesday afternoon in connection with the Friday carjacking of a woman who scuffled with her assailant outside her home and was nearly struck by her own car, police said.
Christopher Michael Montgomery, 36, of the 1800 block of Selvin Drive in Bel Air, was arrested by Harford County Sheriff’s Office deputies when he reported in to a probation officer as part of a previous charge, Sheriff’s Office spokesman Eddie Hopkins said. A “wanted check” run on Montgomery uncovered the outstanding warrant.
He faces charges of robbery, auto theft, taking of a vehicle without the owner’s consent, second degree assault, theft between $10,000 and $100,000 and failure to notify the owner of property damage to an unattended vehicle.
According to a Sheriff’s Office report, Montgomery was wanted for allegedly carjacking a woman outside her Scottsdale Drive home at approximately 5:30 p.m. on Friday. Police said the 42-year-old woman had returned home from a local restaurant and was walking to her building when she was approached by a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt.
The man asked the woman, “Can I ask you a question,” according to police. When the victim responded “no,” he grabbed her keys and ran toward her 2005 Toyota Corolla. The victim chased him and tackled him, but was unable to keep him down.
Police said the man entered her vehicle, backed out of the spot and struck another vehicle, before putting her car into drive, forcing the woman to roll out of the way. A neighbor later told officers that she saw the woman holding onto the driver’s side of the car as it backed out and struck the other vehicle.
The woman suffered scrapes to her hands and knees and a laceration to her calf, and was transported to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center for treatment. Her vehicle was recovered on Hayes Street in Bel Air following Montgomery’s arrest four days later, Hopkins said.
According to court records, Montgomery pled guilty in June 2011 to burglary for an incident earlier that year, and was sentenced to one year and one day in jail, and two years probation.
In September 2006, Montgomery was sentenced to one year in prison after entering an Alford Plea to a charge of conspiracy to commit burglary. At that time, he also faced charges of illegally using another person’s credit card, and other offenses. In 1998, he was sentenced to nine months in jail for malicious destruction of property.
It was not immediately clear how investigators linked Montgomery to the description of the carjacker.
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