CHARLOTTE, N.C. — An 82-year-old man said he was attacked after a stranger forced himself inside his car Tuesday afternoon at a red light on Woodlawn Road.
“He just walked up out of the blue and got in the car,” Charles Lutrick said.
The man said he wanted to go to uptown Charlotte without an exact address.
“He kept telling me where to turn,” Lutrick said.
They got to an empty gravel lot near the AvidXchange and that was when the assailant started beating Lutrick.
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“He cut under this eye and blood was flying, and I had a cut in my head and my hair was just completely soaked with blood,” he said.
The suspect fled the scene after he stole Lutrick's wallet, phone and keys.
“I started yelling, ‘I need help,’” Lutrick said. “'I need help.'”
A woman pulled over to help.
“She made all the phone calls, called the police, the ambulance and all that, and stayed right there with me until it was (it was) all done.”
He wants to thank the woman who helped him and said he forgives the man who could have killed him.
“I’m not mad at this man,” Lutrick said. “I pray for him.”
Lutrick's wallet and keys were later recovered a few feet from the car.
No arrests have been made.
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