Woman Survives Wild, 100 mph Ride, Clinging to Hood Of Husband’s Car

ABCNews

A California woman literally held on for her life, gripping the hood of her husband’s car for 35 miles as he sped along a highway at speeds up to 100 mph.

The woman tried to stop her husband Christopher Carroll, 36, from driving while he was allegedly in the middle of a drug binge, that included methamphetamines, late Friday night. In an effort to stop him from pulling out of the driveway of their Manteca, Calif., home, she jumped on the hood. As he backed up she was thrown and her foot became stuck on the vehicle’s side mirror.

“I was holding on literally by the tips of my fingers and basically my ankles,” she told ABC affiliate KGO. “Now I know it was the stupidest thing in my life I’ve ever done, but I jumped on the hood of the van. He backed out quickly and when he did that it turned me and I got stuck,” she said.

The woman, whom ABC News has chosen not to identify because she is the victim of domestic abuse, was able to look her husband in the eye through the windshield as he drove at speeds up to 100 mph, along a highway and through the mountains, heading towards San Francisco.

“He looked crazy,” the woman said of Carroll. “That man that was driving was not my husband. He was taken over by the meth.”

Police received three 911 calls about the incident. The first caller assumed she had been struck and was stuck to the hood, said Rex Osborn, spokesman for Manteca Police Department.

Thirty-five miles from their home, Carroll slowly pulled over near Pleasanton, Calif., and the woman rolled off the hood. Another driver who was following the van picked her up and took her to a nearby hospital. Carroll returned home to Manteca.

The woman was slightly scraped and bruised. Cops caught up to Carroll at his home where “he acted like nothing had happened,” Osborn said.

Carroll was arrested and charged with kidnapping, attempted murder and spousal abuse. He has not yet been arraigned or retained an attorney, police said.

In a brief jailhouse interview with KGO, Carroll did not answer questions about the incident, saying only, “I want you to know I killed Manuel and his 12 disciples. It ain’t nothing on me.”

Cops said they assumed his confession is delusional, but are investigating.

“The guy is a habitual drug user. He’s a nut,” said Osborn.

Police had picked up Carroll one day before the incident. During a drug binge, he had barricaded himself inside a six-yard dumpster. He remained there for over an hour drinking contaminated water from the floor of the dumpster before hostage negotiators could talk him out. He was arrested on a drug charge and released.

Before the driving incident on Friday, Carroll’s wife had taken him to the doctor because she feared he was sick from drinking the dirty water. An argument that began there about his drug use continued into the night and ended with the woman on hood of the car, police said.