Woman Steals Car After Throwing Snake At Vehicle Owner

A woman in Greenville, South Carolina, was arrested following a carjacking and reckless driving incident on Friday night. Police on Monday said the 29-year-old threw a snake at a woman and then stole her car, driving it through barriers downtown.

The carjacker, identified as Hilmary Moreno-Berrios, was arraigned Monday morning at the Greenville County Detention Center. Police said they were called to a carjacking report at Caledon Apartments. The victim told officers that a woman threw several wooden sticks at her before throwing a live, black snake at her and stealing her SUV. The victim also told officers the woman struck her in the head with her hand.

Officers working a road closure at Falls Park Drive and Main Street saw a Honda recklessly driving through a set of water barricades and into the Liberty Bridge Jump Off pole vaulting event site. The woman jumped out of the passenger side of the SUV, police said. Officers chased her on foot before quickly catching up to her.

Police said she resisted arrest, but additional officers arrived at the scene and helped to take her into custody. The woman told officers her shoulder was hurt, and she was taken to an area hospital. She was later released from medical care and was served with warrants charging her with carjacking and malicious damage to personal property, estimated to be around $17,225.

Moreno-Berrios was also issued five traffic citations for hit-and-run, failure to stop for blue lights, resisting arrest, driving on a closed street and reckless driving.

“The bizarre incident garnered widespread community attention not only for the chase through the heavily-populated route the suspect traveled, but also because Moreno-Berrios carjacked the Honda CR-V by throwing sticks and what turned out to be a live, non-venomous black snake at the victim," authorities said, according to local media.