Thread: Hostage recalls horror of carjacking ordeal

Hostage recalls horror of carjacking ordeal
Gunman killed officer, carjacked man before being slain by police
Judi Villa and Deanna Dent
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 28, 2007 12:00 AM

For a moment, when Juan Valdez heard the car radio, he thought he was going to die.

The man who had forced his way into Valdez's car and ordered him to drive, the man who had said he had just robbed someone and needed to get away, the man sitting right next to him was really a cop killer.

He had gunned down Phoenix police Officer Nick Erfle before commandeering a car. The news report on the radio said so.

"This man might kill me," Valdez thought.

But the man, Erik Jovani Martinez, 22, reassured him.

"Don't be scared," Martinez said. "I won't kill you. You're going to see your family today."

Valdez, 42, recounted for the first time Tuesday his terrifying, hourlong ordeal and how it has changed him.

It was Sept. 18, and Valdez, a mechanic, had dropped his daughter off at school and was headed to work.

Nearby, Erfle and his partner, Officer Rob Rodarme, had stopped Martinez and two women for jaywalking. Officers became suspicious about the man when the name he gave them came back with an arrest warrant. As the officers tried to arrest Martinez, he pulled a gun, shot Erfle twice in the head and fled.

By that time, Valdez was stopped at a red light at 24th Street and Thomas Road. He had the music blaring and the passenger side window partly rolled down. He didn't see Martinez running toward him, didn't see him until he reached into the window to unlock the door.

"Open or I'll shoot!" Martinez yelled.

Valdez thought the man was trying to assault him or rob him.

"I have money," Valdez told the man. "Here are the keys. Leave me."

But the man jumped inside.

"I can't leave you," Martinez told Valdez. "I need you to drive."

Valdez said that he asked the man why he was running and that Martinez told him he had robbed somebody. Valdez didn't know it was the police who were chasing Martinez.

Valdez turned right on Thomas Road. The man ordered him onto the freeway, then west on Glendale Avenue. Valdez did as he was told.

"I thought any moment he could shoot me," Valdez said in Spanish. "He had the gun at my side. Go this way, that way. I asked him, 'Where do you want to go?' I thought I could drop him off."

Martinez said he was homeless and told him to drive around a neighborhood and not to look nervous. He pulled the slide back on his gun.

Martinez wanted water. Valdez didn't have any and suggested they stop at a convenience store. Martinez said they couldn't stop. He seemed nervous.

He kept asking Valdez if anyone was following them. Valdez said he didn't see anyone.

Then, Martinez spotted the police helicopter overhead and switched on the radio. The story was about a "police incident" near 24th Street and Thomas Road. A police officer shot.

Martinez flipped it off. Valdez figured out the rest. He thought about jumping from the car, but his seatbelt was on and he couldn't undo it quickly enough.

Police boxed in the car near 27th Avenue and McDowell Road. They yelled at Martinez to give up.

"He put the gun to my head," Valdez said. He could feel the muzzle pushed against his skin.

Twice more police yelled.

Martinez turned toward an officer standing outside the rear passenger window.

"I'll kill him!" Martinez yelled.

Officer Mark Geske fired once through the open window.

Geske, a member of the Special Assignments Unit, would later tell investigators he knew the suspect had already killed an officer. He thought the man was going to shoot the hostage and then him.

Geske decided he had to fire downward so the hostage wouldn't be hurt.

He was about 4 feet away when he saw the tip of the suspect's gun go down and pulled his trigger.

"My face was turned when they shot him. I didn't see the officer that shot him," Valdez said. "I turned and saw his neck bleeding."

Martinez was dead.

Valdez could hug his wife.

"Thank God," Valdez said. "I'm alive. It's a blessing."

Still, he said, "this has changed my life; I have nightmares about it. I'm more nervous."

Valdez still fears for his safety. Martinez was an illegal immigrant and a gang member.

For two days, Valdez wouldn't come out of the house.

His wife said she now sleeps with a light on at night, afraid that in the darkness she might see Martinez's face. Sometimes, her husband wakes up screaming, but he won't talk about the dreams.

It's hard, Valdez said, but he tries to think of other things.

They gave the car to a friend. Valdez won't drive anymore unless he absolutely has to.

But two people died that day, and Valdez easily could have been the third. He knows this.

"I'm a lucky person," he said. "God doesn't want me yet."
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... k1128.html

"I'm a lucky person," he said. "God doesn't want me yet."

Spend your time wisely and count your blessings for life can be way to short or cut short by a desperate person that made bad choices in life

always say I love you to that special someone and protect your babies from all of the bad in this world