Newark NJ police arrested a man accused of committing a carjacking on a city street in broad daylight.

The auto theft reportedly went down around 1:00 p.m. According to Newark authorities, the suspect initially tried to steal the vehicle while the vehicle owner was inside a store. Prior to entering the store, the victim parked her car, a Ford Crown Victoria, on Mount Prospect Avenue near Verona Avenue in Newark, New Jersey.

When the woman left the store and returned to her car, she reportedly came across the suspect sitting in the driver’s seat. The woman, a 43-year-old resident of Newark NJ, opened the front driver’s side door and confronted the suspect. The suspect then reportedly hit the gas and drove off, knocking the victim to the ground in the process.

The vehicle owner dialed 911 and alerted Newark police. Police officers later recovered the stolen car parked on Branch Brook Place near Montclair Avenue in Newark, NJ.

Detectives with the Newark Police Department conducted an investigation and identified the suspect as a person of interest in the case. When the suspect showed up to Newark NJ police headquarters to be questioned, he was arrested and charged with carjacking.

The suspect, a 47-year-old Newark man, could end up spending a very long time behind bars if he is convicted on the carjacking charges. That’s because N.J.S.A. 2C:15-2 classifies carjacking as a special kind of first degree crime that can result in a maximum sentence of 30 years in NJ State Prison.

For further information about this case, access the NJ.com article, “Woman Returns from Store, Finds Carjacker in Seat, Cops Say.”