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Man Tries To Carjack Van, Gets Owned by Bystanders

by Alicia Lu

This San Diego community is not messing around. When a man tried to steal a mini van with a mother and child still inside of it, bystanders in City Heights rushed the carjacker, dragging him out of the vehicle and bringing him to the ground like a group of trained vigilantes. The entire scene was caught on video.

The would-be carjacker, 21-year-old Ismael Velasquez Hernandez, attempted to steal the minivan outside a grocery store on Sunday. Witnesses realized what was happening when they heard a woman and child screaming from inside the van, and they pounced on the perpetrator immediately. The group of five men dragged Hernandez out of the van and pushed him to the ground to subdue him before cops arrived.

While saving a mother and child from an attempted kidnapping is noble, the situation wasn't black and white. The attackers used excessive force: They could have stopped when they had Hernandez pinned to the ground, but one man went as far as stomping on his hand as he was laying under the other men's grips and feet.

The San Diego police arrived shortly and arrested Hernandez on attempted kidnapping, carjacking, and vehicle theft, child cruelty, resisting arrest, and several drug charges. Despite the stomping and five-on-one ambush, Aaron Leaf, the man who recorded the scene on his cell phone, told Fox 5 San Diego that the group "definitely didn't use too much force" and that the community "did a great job."

Judge for yourself.

The mother screams as Hernandez crashes the van into a pole.

The group of men open the door, grab Hernandez, and force him out of the vehicle.

After Hernandez tries to resist, the men amp up their force and start punching his face.

Then they pin him to the ground, some of them using their feet to keep him from getting up

It's clear that Hernandez is not going anywhere at this point.

But that doesn't stop one man from stomping on his hand as he's laying helplessly on the ground.

Then the police arrive and arrest Hernandez.

And they bring him to the ground again. While Hernandez may have been injured (or drunk, as the DUI charges would suggest) and stumbling, but one thing is for certain: his carjacking attempt really acquainted him with the pavement that day.

Images: Fox 5 San Diego