A UPS driver that was kidnapped last week in California is being credited for keeping the ordeal from becoming far worse.
The driver, whose name was not released, was forced at gunpoint last Thursday in San Jose to lead law enforcement on a chase in a cabover UPS truck which ended with the shooting death of one of his captors.
The unusual chase had started earlier that night with another vehicle that two suspects abandoned before entering the cab of a nearby UPS truck and threatening the driver with a shotgun to drive off as police approached.
The driver drove off as instructed but it wasn’t the getaway his captors had been hoping for. According to police, the driver convinced both kidnappers that the truck was equipped with a governor that limited speed to 50 mph and then he intentionally ran over a spike strip which soon brought the chase to an end.
The driver was released and one of the suspects, Joanna Mae Macy-Rogers, 23, soon followed while the other suspect, Mark Morasky, remained behind in the truck. Morasky, a felon in his thirties with prior convictions for carjacking and robbery, tried at one point to drive the truck, but law enforcement vehicles moved in to block his path.
Police and Morasky’s friends attempted to talk with him, but he left the truck with the shotgun and ran towards police and civilians. A San Jose policeman fired one shot which brought him down and killed him.
San Jose Police Chief Eddie Garcia praised the UPS driver for helping to bring the chase to an end which he said could have been much worse if it wasn’t for his knack for staying cool under pressure.
“When you are accosted, taken at gunpoint, and made to drive, like something that comes out in the movies, you can’t train for the calmness that man had,” Garcia told mercurynews.com.
Macy-Rogers, who police say had shot at them during the pursuit, was arrested and charged with attempted murder of a police officer, car jacking, kidnapping and shooting at an occupied vehicle.
A massive police presence surrounded a UPS truck in an apparent pursuit and standoff in San Jose on Thursday evening, closing down a road. https://t.co/hK7BPfDydE
— CBS Sacramento CBS13 (@CBSSacramento) February 15, 2019
