Anyone in Fontana who has the occasion to come into proximity with 62-year-old Susan Faye Martin might want to figure some way to move as rapidly in another direction as possible.
Such was the lesson learned by an unidentified 36-year-old man who had the misfortune of having something she wanted when their paths crossed on December 30. The man was in his car in the 15000 block of Valley Boulevard in the unincorporated area of Fontana at about 2:05 p.m. when the five foot 7, 147-pound Martin confronted him. After approaching the car and getting within striking distance, she used a sharp object to threaten him. She got him out of the car and then took his place behind the steering wheel and drove off.
A call reporting what happened came into the Fontana police department at 2:07 p.m. and that department’s dispatch team notified the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, which has law enforcement and patrol jurisdiction in that area, about the carjacking.Some fifteen minutes later, the sheriff’s department’s dispatch center received calls reporting that a woman, matching the description of the carjacking suspect, was creating a ruckus in the environs of Arrow Route and Ilex Street. While deputies were in route to that location, they were provided with further information indicating the car involved in the incident matched the vehicle heisted in the carjacking.
Upon the deputies arriving at the Arrow/Ilex location, however, the car and woman were gone.
Within minutes, however, officers with the Fontana Police Department spotted her in the stolen car. They gave chase, with the pursuit ending at 8294 Banana Avenue.
That was not all there was, though, since Martin refused to exit the vehicle. Hardened law enforcement officers, ones with guns and equipped with batons, mace and electric stun guns, were, for an interim, unable coax her from the vehicle. Ultimately, she was taken into custody after eight law enforcement officers arrived.
She was booked into West Valley Detention Center on felony PC 215(A) carjacking and VC2800.4 evading and recklessly operating a motor vehicle while going the wrong way charges. No bail was set for her, but she was released this evening at 9:14 p.m.