Megan & Family Aftermath of Attempted Carjacking

Hi my name is Theresa Boteler and I am creating this fundraiser for my granddaughter Megan Stewart whom along with my daughter Julie Pursell, and my great granddaughter Phoenix Theresa Stewart-Markey, who were all victims of an attempted carjacking and were told possible charges of attempted murder/manslaughter because he ran the car into oncoming traffic on Friday May 5th in Metairie, Louisiana off of Dreyfous Ave and West Esplanade. They were all attacked by a man who attempted to carjack the vehicle they were in and then subsequently he took control of the vehicle after not being able to fully get my daughter Julie out of the drivers seat and drove them into oncoming traffic causing a major collision with another vehicle. *Video attached is of the attempted carjacking caught on ring video before the perpetrator ran the car into oncoming traffic. Warning, the video is disturbing*

Please if anyone feels the urge to help or share they are going to need help with so much and mostly won't have transportation at all. Her car is totaled and since it's a criminal matter there is not a clear answer with how that will be dealt with when it comes to the perpetrator. They will be dealing with costs from so many different things that came from this that we have no clue what that will even look like but some that have been mentioned are: transportation, medical costs, potential legal fees and more miscellaneous costs. We are so thankful for any help we can receive and anyone who can share this. Thank you!

The statement from my granddaughter Megan Stewart:

"I am lucky to be alive to write this. My mom, my daughter and I were driving home from where I work and a man attempted to to carjack us. I wish that was the only thing that came from this and nobody would have been hurt but it escalated way farther than I could have ever imagined. This attack was so much worst than just an attempted carjacking. As we were leaving from my mom picking me up in my vehicle from my job as an elderly caretaker, we took the way home that we always do. What we didn't realize was that within a minute of that normal routine drive home a man would be at the corner of Dreyfous Avenue and West Esplanade, a quiet and "very safe" neighborhood according to all the people who we spoke to that lived around there. I considered this true myself before the attack. I would take the elderly woman that I work as a caretaker for outside all the time and walk with her down the street within a block of where this assault happened. He approached the vehicle as we came to a stop at the corner of Dreyfous and West Esplanade. All we could hear was a man screaming "Help! Help! My mom just died!". Where he was standing and walking from it looked like he was exiting the home at the corner (the one that has this ring doorbell footage) and I was thinking okay well maybe we can call an ambulance or something for him but when he started making his way to the car I could see he was cold in his eyes. This later proved to be correct by how he has such a disregard for life. I told my mom we had to go something wasn't right and I was petrified because my whole life was in that car, my two year old was present in the back seat of the vehicle and he made his way quickly to my car seeing that I was offput by the way he was acting and his demeanor and not knowing what he would try to do. He made it to the back driver side window and started repeating that his mom just died and nothing more while yanking on the handle. I was trying to reason with him and say please we can figure something out to help while also trying to get my mom to turn the window lock off and close the window that was only opened by a few inches that he was sticking his whole arm into and making his way to unlock the front driver door. My mom couldn't see fully what was going on but she knew that it was bad and she tried all she could to stop him but after the last "My mom" he said his face turned even more cold and I was petrified just by the way he was looking. That saying "if looks could kill" couldn't have been more true in that moment. He was on a mission and only after this all occurred did we realize he tried to make his way into several homes with people home and also jumped onto another woman's SUV right before we turned onto the same street. We weren't the only ones he did this to but he was desperate at this point. He physically assaulted my mom by hitting her and ripped her seatbelt off trying to pull her out the car and I was screaming at him trying to stop him from doing that to my mom and also took mental notes of what he looked like and looking for weapons etc. Either way we had to fight because he wasn't going to let me get my daughter out of the car for him to take it. It happened so fast that all we could do was fight back because if we drove forward we would be going into oncoming traffic. He was halfway in the car standing and leaning half his body in the car on top of my mom and putting all his weight on her so she couldn't take control of the break or wheel. This man (we don't know his name or anything about him yet) then decided that since he wasn't going to get my mom fully out the car that he was going to inflict extreme bodily harm onto us the best way possible to basically get rid of us and the damage he just did (including my innocent 2 year old baby girl). He put all his weight on my moms legs after physically assaulting her while I was fighting him off the best I could from the passenger seat and he floored the acceleration by pushing down on her leg and having his right foot in the car and put the pedal to the floor while turning the wheel to the left so that we would not only be going into oncoming traffic but facing the traffic. We were thrown into oncoming traffic and directly hit a woman and her son in their white SUV. If it weren't for my mom immediately swinging the wheel to make a sharp right after the collision, away from the canal we would have ended up in the canal after slamming into the SUV and my mom as a result was swung out the vehicle with the perpetrator holding onto her since he was trying to control the wheel at the time and holding onto her. That part went in slow motion in my mind as I saw my daughter closing her eyes, my mom flying out of the car and seeing an airbag come into my face and out of the steering wheel with my mom nowhere to be found since she was ejected out (if he wouldn't have deliberately taken off her seatbelt prior I believe she wouldn't have flown out the car like she did. Seeing the way she flew out the car with this man holding onto her and the airbags deploying and my baby girl in the back seat all at once was the scariest thing I've ever gone through. I couldn't stop screaming. After I was told that I could be heard screaming so far down by the EJ hospital where he tried to first make entry in a woman's home, she knew something bad happened because the encounter didn't sit right with her when he was running up to get into her house and she made her way over to the scene after it all. The video of the initial attack still makes me shake. This man had no care for our lives in his eyes and wanted this to end in tragedy. My mom and I both have injuries but by the grace of God my daughters car seat didn't move an inch. She is perfectly fine physically but she has had nightmares since and I don't know how this will affect her emotionally because she was screaming petrified after I was able to get to her. The Lord had us in the palm of His hands for us to be able to walk away alive. I am happy to say not long into the 4 hour time period we were on scene, JPSO found the man in someone's house (thank God it was up for sale and nobody was home) directly across the street from where the crime scene occurred. The worst part about this is that he attempted to break into at least two homes that we know of immediately before and jumped on a woman's car and tried to make entry in her SUV right before he targeted us. Please send your prayers and any help we can get or shares would mean the world. I am lost right now because if this could have went a tiny bit differently it would have ended fatally. Most people usually don't walk away from these things we were told. Especially the way my mom was thrown from the vehicle. My mom's head was millimeters from being rolled over by a truck and the man stopped in perfect time and this man ended up being so helpful during the investigation and saw before, during, and after. I am so thankful to everyone who stayed to provide statements and help us. Mr. Zach, Mrs. Samina, and the other victims of the crash that were okay (Mrs. Lynn and her son), Ms. Ashley (an off duty police officer who stopped for us, and so many more. Thank you all. We couldn't have gotten through without your kindness, grace, and help getting through the traumatic process. Also to JPSO, and Deputy Gusevius for making sure to get all details and personally saying he was going to do everything he could to document everything so Justice is delivered. They all did a great job because everyone said that the perpetrator was probably far gone by then.

My car is completely totaled and with this being a criminal matter it is going by the charges that are put against him from my understanding so it has been hard to adjust without transportation and with having to get MRI's soon and my mom is disabled so me trying to figure out my work situation with my boss has been a lot because I have my sweet baby girl to take care of and without transportation to her doctors appointments and daily life things it has flipped our world upside down. But one of the many things my baby girl has taught me since she's been born (she was born 11 weeks preemie and she's been a fighter her entire life so I've learned that if we trust in God and adjust to our circumstances and the cards we are dealt aren't always what we could have imagined but we will get through, it'll take some time but we will get there!)

PLEASE BE CAREFUL, THIS IS HAPPENING MORE AND MORE AND THIS HAPPENED IN DAYLIGHT WITH SO MANY PEOPLE PASSING BY AND WATCHING. This happened in one of the "best neighborhoods" according to the neighbors and it's becoming more and more prevalent. Please. Drive with your windows up and car locked. You can't take chances no matter how much you want to help anyone. Be mindful. I saw on his face as he approached us that he was on a mission and wasn't going to stop and made sure we were cornered in. Pay attention to all of your surroundings. I cannot believe it happened to us but it can happen to anyone ANYWHERE! Please stay safe everyone!"

Thank you all for even reading and anyone that would like to help it would mean the world to our family. Thank you so much and God Bless!