Stephanie’s New Car Assistance After Carjacking!

On June 30th, Stephanie Lopez was driving home from work in the Bay Area to her home in Santa Cruz, California and was involved in an armed carjacking. It was her first day back to work in her office during the COVID19 pandemic and decided to avoid the long traffic by taking a scenic drive down the coastline home, one of her most cherished drives. Unfortunately, about half way through her journey, her peaceful end to her day came to an abrupt stop. Driving Southbound on Highway 1, she reached a back up of cars in the road. Unsure of what was going on, she waited thinking there may be something in the road or an accident. Not able to see beyond the car in front of her, she waited for her turn to turn around as vehicles in front of her began to do so. As she went to turn around, the vehicle in front of her yelled “GET DOWN HE HAS A GUN” shortly followed by gunshots and vehicles racing away. She attempted to turn her car around to head north and flee the area when the man came charging at her, pointing the gun directly toward her car approaching. He shouted for her to get out of the vehicle as he got closer, all while keeping the gun directly at her. She stumbled out of the vehicle quickly leaving behind all of her belongings, thinking of only her life being spared or keeping him out of the vehicle WITH her. Thankfully her phone was in the seat and when he sat down on it he threw it out the window. He then stole her vehicle and began driving north on highway 1. If you are unfamiliar with highway 1, there are a lot of areas that do not have cell phone reception and no one was able to call the police at the scene. Thankfully, a young couple approached my friend and offered her a ride about six minutes south of the incident. Upon arriving in a service area, the police were notified and instantly responsive. The Park Rangers, Sheriffs, and Santa Cruz Police proceeded to conduct a high speed chase first up the coast and than turned back south. The suspect collided with many vehicles and caused destruction along the coast and through Santa Cruz. Police chased the suspect to West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz where he drove her vehicle off the side of the cliff and into the Pacific Ocean. He climbed out of the vehicle in the water, up the cliffs and immediately arrested by Santa Cruz Police. Her 2016 Honda Civic was now at the bottom of a steep cliff, submerged in water, and contained her purse, wallet, work out clothes/shoes, her Recently purchased MacBook Pro for work and school, her camera and other precious belongings. Along with just recently replacing the tires and battery to ensure her car was in great condition for driving back to the office. Emotionally, mentally and physically, this has been an extremely hard process for her to work through and is now left with major expenses due to being the victim of a crime and at no fault of her own, simply the wrong place at the wrong time. Unfortunately insurance will not cover the items in her car and the total coming back to her after completion of the remainder of the loan, expenses of towing the vehicle/utilizing a crane to get the vehicle out of the Pacific Ocean have left an undue financial hardship she doesn’t need. Stephanie is one of the most caring thoughtful women I know and could use all the help and support she can get. Thank you so much for your donation, big or small. ❤️