Carjacking gone wrong

Berry Creek resident Alex Swain was arrested in Chico last Friday (Nov. 30) after allegedly bungling three attempts to steal cars, including an unsuccessful carjacking of an elderly woman’s vehicle.

The series of failed thefts started with that 86-year-old woman in the parking lot of McDonald’s on Conners Avenue. The 22-year-old Swain was pulled out of the woman’s car by a friend of hers and ran away, according to a Chico Police Department press release. He ended up at a nearby intersection, where he allegedly tried to take another driver’s car but was thwarted again, as the 24-year-old woman’s friends came to her aid.

Swain, who showed signs of being under the influence of a controlled substance, was arrested on Cohasset Road, following yet another attempt to steal a car, this time a parked vehicle he broke into on Rio Lindo Avenue. He required medical aid and faces elder-abuse and attempted-carjacking charges.