A motorist who ‘stared death in the face’ Thursday night narrowly escaped from two armed men who attempted to kidnap him in the flooded Sandy Gully, in the vicinity of the depressed Kingston community called Ackee Walk.

“I realise that the water was too much, so I decided not to cross and put the car into reverse. As I was about to back up, two men approached me and forced their way into my car,” the motorist told the Observer.

“They ordered me to drive across and said if I did not, they would shoot me,” the motorist said. But in an uncanny twist of fate, the motorist managed to get out of the vehicle as the flood waters carried it down the gully with the two gunmen still on board.

“The water started to drag me away. I clutched at the side of a wall in the gully and then a big gush came and slammed me against the wall. I was a drowning man, so I would have clutched at anything. I managed to hold on to the wall and make my way out of the gully. I don’t know how I did it, as the force of the water was powerful,” said the man, who asked that his name not be used.

The car, a 1999 Toyota Corsa, which was washed away in the raging waters was found yesterday morning in a section of the gully along Perkins Boulevard. It was removed by a wrecker on the instruction of the police.

Yesterday, the Duhaney Park police said they were searching for the two armed men.

… Brave policewoman, too

THE Half-Way-Tree police were last night seeking two men who attempted to abduct a woman cop in St Andrew Thursday night, shortly after she left a beauty parlour.

According to the police, two armed men held up the policewoman about 9:00 pm as she attempted to enter her motorcar, a 2001 Toyota Corolla, in the parking lot at Central Plaza in St Andrew.

The police said one of the men held the woman at gunpoint and forced her into the back of the vehicle, while the other went into the driver’s seat and started the car.

The police said, however, that shortly after entering the car the policewoman quickly leapt from the vehicle and escaped. It was not immediately clear if the carwas in motion at the time the woman jumped out.

The police also told the Observer that the officer’s .38 service pistol was taken from her during the attack.

There were unconfirmed reports last night that the policewoman’s motor vehicle was recovered in the St Andrew South Police Division.