Pleasant Grove grandmother Elizabeth Smith, 45, had a wild hour last night, after a 3 a.m. trip to the corner store to get medicine and food for her grandbaby turned into an attempted kidnapping followed by a high-speed chase.
Smith told police that as she was walking back from the store, a man in a pickup truck ordered her into the car at gunpoint. She refused and ran, taking shelter behind a church and calling 911. After police picked her up, she sat in the squad car describing the truck, only to have it drive right by her window. A backup squad car chased the vehicle, with the car containing Smith following behind "at a safer speed," the Morning News' Avi Selk is careful to note. (Nonetheless, DPD: Could you not have had someone drop this poor woman off at home first?)
After what Smith estimated was a three-mile chase, the truck was stopped and Braulio Cerda, 19, was arrested. He's being charged with aggravated assault and held on a $25,000 bond.
Which is why it might be a good idea to re-think those profile photos, Braulio. They might give people the wrong idea. At least close that closet door and edge the crib out of the shot, dude.
