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Police: Woman pulled over for fender-bender, got punched and carjacked

The woman said after she pulled over to the shoulder, a man punched her in the face and took off in her car, leaving her stranded with her dog.

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — A 26-year-old man is in custody for stealing a woman's car on Interstate 495 Wednesday afternoon. 

The woman told responding Virginia State Police troopers that a man punched her in the face and took her car after the two of them were involved in a minor accident.

Corinne Geller, Public Information Director for Virginia State Police, said troopers began getting calls about the stranded woman with a dog flagging down drivers while on the shoulder of I-495 at mile marker 53 in Fairfax County around 2:15 p.m. Wednesday.

When troopers arrived on scene, the woman explained that she was driving her 2021 Toyota Rav4 in the southbound lanes of I-495 when her vehicle was struck by a Toyota Camry. Both vehicles pulled off onto the shoulder. According to the woman, the Camry's driver walked up to her vehicle, punched her in the face, pulled her from her car, and then took off in her vehicle. She and her dog remained on the shoulder.

While troopers were conducting their investigation, another vehicle pulled onto the shoulder and a man got out to tell them something similar had just happened to him, Geller said. The man told the troopers someone had struck his car, then punched him in the face and tried to take his car when they pulled over.

A short time later, Maryland authorities told VSP they had found the stolen Rav4. The 26-year-old man, who was not identified by police, was taken into custody in Maryland on a Virginia charge of unauthorized use of a vehicle. The investigation is ongoing, and additional charges are possible, Geller said.

Both the man and the woman who got punched refused medical attention.

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