ARLINGTON, Va. ( DC News Now ) — Alem Zewoldai said he feels “blessed” to be alive.
The 74-year-old Uber driver was carjacked at gunpoint last Saturday night in Southeast D.C., police said, by people who broke three of his ribs and cut a gash in the back of his head that needed six stitches.
Zewoldai, who spoke exclusively about his harrowing experience to DC News Now, said that a good Samaritan who is ironically from his native Eritrea, Africa, found him wounded and ended up taking him home to Virginia and then to the hospital.
Zewoldai praised the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) for their response and the Eritrean woman who recognized him as he wandered the street dazed and confused because he was hit hard in the back of the head.
Controversial arrest leads to back-and-forth blame between ICE, Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office
As for his attackers, he said he isn’t angry but disappointed in their behavior.
“I’m sorry about them,” Zewoldai said. “They’re young. They should be in school. They are, as I said, they are [the ages] of my kids. And what are they going to do? They can take the car. They can drive the car as long as they want but [that] doesn’t give them anything good.”