Carjacking in Cranston left driver with serious injuries and police hunting for the suspect

CRANSTON – The police spent Friday morning searching for a black Toyota Corolla that was taken from an elderly man who was carjacked on Pontiac Avenue just after 6 a.m.

The victim, who was not identified in a police department news release, was taken to Rhode Island Hospital for treatment of serious but not life-threatening injuries.

The police said that the victim was driving along Pontiac Avenue in his 2014 Corolla, license plate 363-706, when an agitated 20-year-old man in his boxers flagged down the elderly driver on Pontiac Avenue, opened the door, ripped the 74-year-old out of the driver's seat and beat him, said Cranston's police chief, Col. Michael J. Winquist.

The younger man slammed the Cranston resident's head into the car during the attack, Winquist said, adding that the man's injuries include broken bones.

The carjacker fled the scene in the stolen Toyota Corolla with his girlfriend, prompting a police response at 6:09 a.m., Winquist said.

At 11:20 a.m., the Cranston police said that the car had been recovered and the suspect arrested.

With staff reports by Mark Reynolds.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Carjacking in Cranston left police hunting for the suspect Friday