A Riverdale man was arrested in a gas station parking lot Tuesday after he was accused of attacking two women, including one who was pregnant, during failed carjacking attempts.
Clayton County police said Donta McCalland, 39, punched the pregnant woman multiple times in the stomach and yanked her from her car during the first attempt at a motel on Southside Commercial Parkway. During the second, he allegedly attacked another woman from behind before grabbing her keys, according to police.
McCalland was arrested within minutes of the second attempt after running from authorities in the parking lot of a Tara Boulevard gas station. According to the Clayton sheriff’s office, a deputy boxed the man in with his patrol car and he was taken into custody.
Authorities were called to the Magnolia Bay Hotel shortly after 10 p.m. Tuesday after the first woman was attacked. She told responding officers she was sitting in her car in the parking lot when a man approached her and asked for a ride.
“The victim declined giving him a ride,” Clayton police said in a statement. “Mr. McCalland then opened the victim’s car door and began punching her in the stomach.”
After taking her keys, police said the man pulled the victim out of her car but could not get it started. He ran from the motel, only to try to take another woman’s car at the gas station on Tara Boulevard a mile away, according to authorities.
“Approximately five minutes later, Mr. McCalland arrived at the 6000 block of Tara Blvd. where the second victim was pumping gas into her 2018 Toyota Corolla,” police said. “Mr. McCalland attacked the victim from behind and grabbed her keys. Mr. McCalland attempted to start the vehicle but was unable to.”
A third person stepped in to help the woman, but police said McCalland used her keys to punch the man in the face. The sheriff’s agency said their deputy was flagged down by two men in the gas station parking lot, leading to McCalland’s quick apprehension.
He was arrested on multiple charges, including aggravated assault and robbery by sudden snatching, and is being held in the Clayton County Jail without bond.
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