Woman injured, 2 arrested in Lehigh car-jacking

A woman is in critical condition at Lee Memorial Hospital following a car-jacking that ended in a traffic accident this morning in Lehigh Acres.

The woman, described only as a 24-year-old white female, was an accomplice in a car-jacking that occurred around 7:45 a.m. in the area of Haviland Avenue and 22nd Street SW, according to Lee County sheriff's reports.

The car-jacking happened around 7:30 a.m. in the area of Metro Parkway and Daniels Parkway in Fort Myers, when the woman and a Hispanic man she was with approached a man at a gas station and asked for a ride to Lehigh Acres, said Lee County Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. Larry King.

The driver, Jeremy Hall of Fort Myers, complied and began driving toward Lehigh, at which point a gun was drawn by the male passenger and Hall was forced out of the maroon Grand Prix.

Hall was able to escape and call police, who began looking for the subjects in the stolen car. Moments later police received a report of an accident on Meadow Road just north of State Road 82. The Grand Prix had crashed into a large construction site trash bin, King said.

It is not known why the car crashed, King said. When emergency crews arrived they had to physically cut the woman out of the vehicle. She was then transported to the Lee Memorial trauma center. The male driver suffered only slight injuries and was treated at the scene before being detained by police.

Police are not are not releasing the identities of the two suspects until charges are filed, King said.