Picked the Wrong Day to Stop Sniffing Ben-Gay

By Matt Wood in News on Nov 9, 2005 4:55PM

This has not been a good week for old ladies on the South Side. On Monday night, Loretta Wheeler was parking her car in Kenwood after work when two carjackers jumped her and locked her in the trunk. They then drove around, stopping at ATM machines to loot her bank account. The attackers nearly killed her when she blanked on her PIN number, but fortunately their FEMA-esque planning and execution of the robbery faltered when a policeman saw them driving the wrong way down a one-way street. Officers freed Wheeler from the trunk, but her attackers got away.

Yesterday, a man followed two women from a Jewel on the 5700 block of South Merrimac and stole their purses after sideswiping their cars. He got out of his car, pretended to look for damage, then grabbed the bags. He took a little more than a purse from Jackie Mlinarcik though. After snatching her purse, he took a ring from her pinky--along with the finger. She told police she wasn't sure if he cut the finger or ripped it off, she just woke up bleeding. The attacker, and poor Ms. Mlinarcik's finger, are still at large.

At least neither of the incidents kept these ladies down. Wheeler said she was ready to come out swinging with some tools she found in the trunk of her car, and Mlinarcik told WGN, "I'd like to pull his little finger off his hand, too, the jerk." Here's hoping she gets to do just that; her attacker probably isn't going to make it very far with a smashed-up hooptie and the money he stole from her. The ring, sans finger, is only worth $10.