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73-year-old woman describes high-speed chase by strangers through Oakland hills
A 73-year-old woman said she was followed and chased at high-speed by would-be carjackers in the Oakland hills and on the freeway.
OAKLAND, Calif. - A 73-year-old woman said she was followed and chased at high-speed by would-be carjackers in the Oakland hills and on the freeway.
"Unfortunately, somebody like myself is a sitting duck. They look, and they go, 'Oh look, a little old lady in a nice car, let's get her,'" said Elizabeth Gage.
Gage said she was driving back to her Oakland hills home when she realized she was being followed at about 12:30 p.m. Saturday. She had just gotten off Interstate 580 and was near Mountain Boulevard and Keller Avenue.
She was driving her Mercedes SUV. The car behind her was also a Mercedes SUV.
"So I moved over thinking OK, let him pass me – he moved over. And that made me uncomfortable. So I drove a little faster, and he drove a little faster," Gage said.
So she called 911 while in the hills, but got automated recording.
"All lines are busy," she recalled. She "And all I could think of was, ‘Really? Really?’"
She went down the hill on Golf Links Road. The 911 line was still busy as she got the same automated recording over and over again.
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She got back onto I-580 headed toward downtown Oakland. Once on the highway she sped up when she realized they were still following her.
"I was driving about 100 to 105 mph," Gage said. "I kind of played ‘Frogger.’ I was going in and out of cars. I'm sure somebody thought I was crazy."
She managed to lose them and went back home. No one ever answered 911.
"I was on hold with them until I pulled into my garage," she said.
Just a half hour before her ordeal, her neighbor had his cell phone stolen by someone in a Mercedes GLA. Gage believes the same car was behind her.
And at about 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, a woman was carjacked of her white BMW by four assailants, also in a black Mercedes, at Mountain and Keller. That was the same spot where Gage first noticed she was being followed.
"I'm terrified," she said. "I'm living in the wild west, or when Rome fell, that we're in a lawless land."
Gage is a retired schoolteacher who's beat cancer. However, she said this ordeal was far scarier.
"I'm supposed to be in my golden years. Please leave us alone. Please leave us alone," she said.