DUNWOODY, Ga -- The victim whose carjacked car was used in a burglary and police chase said he was almost killed by the suspect. Anthony Stokes, 17, of Decatur was killed while driving the stolen car when he slammed the vehicle into a metal pole.
It ended a crime spree that started at Perimeter Mall in Dunwoody Tuesday afternoon. Shortly after 2PM Quintin Malone was walking to his car, a 1996 Honda Accord, which was parked in the lower level of the mall. Malone works at the mall.
What happened next started a chain of events that changed not only Malone's life, but at least three others. Malone said he was confronted by Stokes as he got into his car. "Once I tried to get into the car he came out of nowhere and slammed my head against the car door and threw me down," Malone said.
He was in a daze but soon realized his head was right behind the rear tire of his car and Stokes was starting his car. "Because my head was near the rear tire, if I didn't move away within a millisecond he was going to run me over and kill me."
Within the next hour, police say Stokes drove the stolen car to Roswell and tried to break into a home on Alpine Drive. He surprised an 80-year old woman who ran to a bedroom and called 911. The woman said Stokes fired a shot at her. He immediately fled the home in the stolen car.
Minutes later Stokes crashed Malone's Honda against a metal bank sign pole, but not before hitting another car and a pedestrian.
Police said it wasn't the first time Stokes tried to steal a vehicle. In January, DeKalb County police say he tried to steal a pickup truck from a Walmart parking lot on Gresham Road.
The owner of a blue Ford Ranger surprised Stokes as he was trying to start the truck and steal it. Police said Stokes used two screw drivers to pop the lock on the door and in the ignition to try to start it.
The owner called 911 and Stokes was arrested on the scene.
That was three months before Quintin Malone was confronted by Stokes at the mall. "Emotionally I'm just still pretty shook up about it," Malone said.
Malone said he remembers the stories about the controversial heart transplant Stokes received two years ago. "He had a second chance at life and he just blew it," he said.
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