OAKLAND PARK, Fla. – A 76-year-old Fort Lauderdale man was on his way to eat lunch Easter Sunday when he was attacked by another man who took his keys and drove off in his car.
Robert Rinehart had just parked his 2011 Hyundai Genesis and was walking inside the Denny's restaurant on Commercial Boulevard in Oakland Park when a man walked toward him, Broward Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Gina Carter said.
As they passed one another, the man asked Rinehart, "How much does it cost to eat here?" Then the man struck Rinehart in the arm, making him drop his keys, Carter said.
"He hit me pretty hard in the hand -- hard enough that the keys came out," Rinehart said.
The man grabbed the keys and darted toward Rinehart's car. Rinehart chased the man but couldn't stop him, Carter said.
As the carjacker drove off, he struck Rinehart with the car and then sped north on Dixie Highway, Carter said.
"At what point did you realize this guy might be trying to run me over? Was it instinctual?" Local 10 News reporter Carlos Suarez asked.
"I was behind him and I just think he didn't care," Rinehart said. "I mean, you know, had I not moved, he would have backed right over me. I mean, he gunned it."
Rinehart wasn't seriously hurt.
Several people inside Denny's witnessed the carjacking.
Detectives are looking for a man in his early 20s with a slim build and a dark complexion. He was wearing a white shirt with a Miami Heat logo on the front.
Anyone with information about the carjacking is asked to call detectives at 954-321-4738 or Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS.
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